


We Made These Memories For Ourselves

by CheerUpLovely



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Family, Future Fic, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-05-09 18:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 105
Words: 90,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5550929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheerUpLovely/pseuds/CheerUpLovely
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All one-shots and prompt requsts relating to my Ava-verse (future fics involving Ava, Tommy and Rosie as Olicity children)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Oliver Queen's A+ Parenting

Ava Moira Queen comes home from the hospital in the arms of her mother.

There’s a baby carrier over Oliver’s arm, with Felicity’s hospital bag and an array of other baby items - including a large helium balloon from his sister - slung across all available limbs, but their baby daughter enters their home for the first time in Felicity’s arms, nothing more than a bundle of lilac blankets and a tiny face peeking out from within them. She’s barely let the baby out of her arms since she was born yesterday morning, and Oliver’s glad for that. She’s worried so many times during the pregnancy about a thousand different things - almost as much as he has - and now that their baby girl was here she’s just been so…perfect.

He’s also glad she’s taking charge because Oliver’s terrified of his daughter.

If Felicity hadn’t been so besotted with their new infant, then he thinks she’d have noticed it straight away.

But she doesn’t notice. Not that he can tell. She doesn’t notice that he’s only held Ava once in the hospital unless he was passing the baby to her, and that he hasn’t been alone with her at all except for the thirty-second bathroom breaks she was taking. She doesn’t notice even as she takes the baby through to the nursery that he spent an entire weekend decorating and places her into the crib that Oliver has built with his bare hands.

He had wanted to place her there for the first time, he remembers. He wanted to carry her into the room he painted, right down to the jungle animal stencils on the wall, and say I built this for you. I built this bed for you. I picked the animals. I put together the wardrobe that holds your tiny clothes. Daddy isn’t always a good man, but Daddy did this for you.

Felicity places Ava into the crib, and bless that tiny heart, she doesn’t make a sound. She just looks at her with wide eyes and falls asleep again. She sleeps a lot. John’s warned them of sleepless nights to come, but at the moment she’s quiet and content until she’s hungry, and even then her only sounds are tiny mewls as she seeks out her mother. Felicity turns to Oliver after she’s settled, and he plays the good man he only knows how to be around her, kisses her tired forehead, and guides her of to their own bedroom so she can get some rest. She’s barely slept since the baby was born.

She’s awake again ten minutes later, lifting a now-crying Ava from her crib before Oliver can even work out how to lift her out while supporting her head.

Over the following days, Oliver comes to realise that while his presence as a father is needed sometimes, he’s not really needed by his daughter. Because Felicity is everything she needs - Felicity is the perfect mother for his baby girl. Felicity paces the hallways with Ava on the nights that she won’t stop screaming. Felicity changes her diapers. Felicity breast feeds their baby so he definitely isn’t useful in that department. Felicity doesn’t even complain that she’s exhausted and needs his help. Felicity sang silly Disney songs, commercial tunes, even Billboard chart hits he’s never heard, and tells her how beautiful and loved she is even though she doesn’t understand her words yet. Felicity thrives at motherhood as she does with anything she can find on a computer. She is graceful as a mother even when she hasn’t slept in twenty-three hours and has baby vomit stains on her shoulder. And Ava…she adores her for it.

And he wants that. He wants that moment of eye contact between him and his daughter, where she looks at him with innocence, with acceptance and adoration and such a pure, unfiltered love. He’s watched Felicity have that moment as the two watch each other while she feeds the baby, but he just…couldn’t.

Ava has her mother’s eyes, her mother’s chin, but his lips, his nose, and he knows that she’ll grow to have his charming smile - a dangerous combination for something so small that already holds his entire heart in the palm of a hand only big enough to grasp his pinkie finger. She has dark blonde hair like his own - or maybe Felicity’s natural hair colour - and a small birthmark on her ankle that makes her utterly unique to the both of them.

When they first discovered they were having a girl, Oliver had sworn to the sonogram photograph that he’d protect her, love her, and never let anyone hurt her.

And then his baby girl is placed in his arms for the first time, he sees innocent eyes looking up at him as her freshly born face screws up to wail, and he remembers all the lives he’s taken. All the children whose parents never came home because he wasn’t fast enough at getting the situation resolved. All the parents whose children suffered in the Undertaking he failed to stop, or the crimes that had taken them from their families when he’d been too late, and how can he promise to protect his daughter from these things? What makes him enough of a man to declare that is strong enough to raise his daughter in this hell-hole of a life they strived - and often failed - to save? What part of him deserves to hold that precious little girl and call her his own?

So he steps back. He watches from across the room, stirring a mug of tea for the woman he loves while she holds the gaze of the baby she feeds. He lays in bed staring at the ceiling while she sings to their daughter in the next room. He looks down at Ava in the rare moments he changes her diaper and he wonders - do you even know me? I’m your father. Did you know that? - and as time goes on, he becomes nothing more than a support to Felicity, not to their daughter.

Ava is twelve weeks old when he first leaves the city. He’s taken a few missions that Felicity had insisted he needed to keep him sane, but this is the first time he’s left Starling City, left them alone, and it makes him uneasy. The plane is halfway to Central City when he realises that he’d kissed Felicity goodbye and walked right past his daughter without a second glance. And by the time the plane lands and Barry is grinning at him, congratulating him on being a father, he feels such a strong self-loathing that he finds an excuse to get some time to himself when things quiet down afterwards.

Because there’s a tugging at his heart that isn’t guilt. There’s something pulling him away from the riverside view of Central City, and it’s there at the side of the water where he feels incomplete as a man for the first time since she’d slipped her hand into his and never let it go. Because he may not be her primary caregiver, but his daughter is not within sight or sound. He sleeps in a hotel room and he cannot hear Felicity’s calming babble as she soothes through Ava’s distaste of mornings. He makes himself coffee and looks across the room to see that they aren’t curled into an armchair together exchanging soft sounds and intense glances. He misses his wife. This time when his hand slides across cold, empty sheets, he knows she isn’t in the next room seeing to the baby. The only technology at the side of his bed is his cellphone - there’s no tablet PC, no baby monitor, no alarm clock, no forgotten stuffed animal and muslin square.

He wants his daughter.

He pulls out his phone, dialling Felicity’s number despite the late hour. It was the middle of the night, thirty minutes after Ava’s feed, he guessed, so she may still be awake. Her voice is tired when she answers the phone. “Hey, gorgeous,” he speaks softly. “Baby girl keeping you up?”

“Just got her back to sleep,” she replies quietly, showing that the baby is still in her arms despite being asleep. “Everything okay out there? It’s late, is something wrong?”

She’s fearing injury, casualty, worse… why else would he call in the middle of the night? “Miss you,” he tells her honestly. “Both of you.”

The silence that follows makes him realise that she’s always noticed his distance from their daughter. She’s been waiting patiently for him to figure this out on his own, because she’s pushed him on things before he’s ready in the past and it hasn’t worked out well. This isn’t something they can afford to lose, so she’s attempting patience so they’ll be okay in the long run.

“Oliver,” she whispers, not even trying to finish that sentence.

“I’ve got some more things to do before we leave,” he said, glancing at his watch. “I should get home just as you’re waking up in the morning.”

“Okay,” she tells him, not arguing with his decision.

“When I’m home, we’re locking the door for the day,” he continues, words he should have spoken months ago spilling from his mouth in a way far more suited to her. “We’re locking the door, shutting down all computers, all phones, no TV…and I want to spent the whole day with my daughter in my arms.”

“Oliver…”

“I’m sorry, Felicity,” he whispers, running his hand up through his hair. “I know that’s not enough to say, but I am. I’m sorry. I was so scared about being her father that I just…decided not to be.”

“Come home safe,” she tells him quietly. “Come back to us, and we’ll fix it, okay?”

He’s not sure how he makes it through the rest of the trip, but he isn’t going to let anything break his promise. The moment he closes the door behind him, he switches off his cellphone - after texting John to tell him why, to avoid any panic - and leaves it in his bag in the entrance hall, tossing his jacket along with it. He walks through the quiet halls, noticing there’s no gentle sounds to lead him to where his family is. The door to Ava’s nursery is open, though, and he steps inside, taking a moment to admire her over the bars of the crib.

She is beautiful, isn’t she?

She’s wide awake but quiet - did you know I was coming home? Were you waiting for me? Is that a smile for me? - and he takes her in his arms as easily as if he’d known all along. She can support her own head now, so he’s not paranoid about hurting her or dropping her. There’s still no stirring from their bedroom, so he changes her diaper, dresses her in a new onesie, and goes to the rocking chair in the corner, laying her down in his arms as she stares at up at him.

That she know his face is heart-warming.

“This is new, isn’t it?” he whispers to her, careful to keep the room quite. God knows Felicity could do with a lie-in.

Ava coos at him quietly.

“I know, I’ve been a bad father so far, haven’t I?” he tells her, stroking a finger down her tiny cheek. “I’m going to try and do better from now on though, if you’ll forgive me?”

She reaches up with her tiny hands, still so small and delicate, and grabs his hand, pulling it down to her level so she can play with his fingers.

“I hope that’s a yes,” he mumbles, but her attention is firmly on his hands now. “Look, your mom? She’s always gonna be the best mom in the world, okay? She’s perfect for the both of us. She’ll know what you need and when you need it. Me? I’m going to need a few more cues than that. My dad wasn’t exactly father of the year either, so I’m not working on a good example. Being a dad is scary, y’know. I’m so scared I’ll screw up and someone will be able to hurt you.”

Ava stops her attempt to chew on his fingers, burying a drool-covered hand into his shirt instead, holding herself to him as her face looks up at his. This is what Felicity gets to experience every single day, this eye contact, this mutual love, and there’s nothing in this world that could make him look away from her right now.

“I know I’ve not been very good at showing it, but you’re my baby girl, and I have so much love for you that I don’t know what to do with it. Usually I have your mom to kick my ass when I get bad at that, but she’s been kinda busy keeping you happy lately,” he smiles. “I might not be able to promise that no one will ever hurt you, but I can promise that as long as I’m your father, I won’t let anyone get away with it. If someone hurts you, I’ll hunt them to the ends of the Earth. because that’s what I am good at. But failing my girls isn’t an option, so I’m going to get good at being a dad as well. I’m going to learn to be everything you need and deserve, I just…” he sighed, lifting her so that his arm was cupped under her backside, their faces closer now that she was propping herself up against his chest. “I’m just a bit of a disaster right now.”

Ava coos again, leaning to kiss a sloppy smack of her lips to the end of Oliver’s nose. It’s far from a proper kiss, but she’s obviously leaning cues from her mother already in showing affection. When he smiles, he sees a flash of pink behind her and there’s Felicity leaning in the doorway, a baby monitor hanging from her hand that tells him she heard the entire exchange. He stands from the chair, kisses the woman who bought life to his daughter, and guides them both into the master bedroom.

He has a promise to keep.


	2. Don't Let The Bedbugs Bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> walkerandbartowski said:   
> Prompt: Ava having a nightmare and only wanting her daddy

Felicity had tried to remain calm, but she was quickly reaching the same levels of hysteria that her daughter was steadily calming to. It was one o’clock in the morning, she’d been awake since three o’clock the previous morning, and her daughter was screaming in her ear.

She paced the room of Ava’s nursery, her two year old nestled against her chest with her legs wrapped around her waist and her arms around her neck. She had tried shifting her onto her hip so she could sit them down somewhere, but her daughter was having none of it. Nothing Felicity tried would settle her, because she was very, very specific about what she wanted.

“Daddy.”

She howled the word over and over, so painfully and so filled with a desperate longing that when she hadn’t stopped after ten minutes Felicity had given in and called Oliver. He was out patrolling with Thea and Diggle, and while they usually stayed in the foundry until it was late enough to have Ava in her bed, Felicity had stayed home with her that night because she’d been running a fever through the day.

Now, she was burning, not in the way of sickness, but from screaming herself raw. She’d called Oliver twenty minutes ago, and while their apartment was at least a thirty minute drive away, he was bursting through the door to their apartment in record time. Then again, she’d called him with Ava screaming into the phone whether she tried to hold it away from her or not, so with the heart-breaking screams of “daddy” summoning him, of course he’d broken every traffic law in existence.

“Daaaaaadddy,” she choked out, breaking into a series of coughs at the end.

“Shh, baby girl,” Felicity pleaded as she paced the room, stroking the infant’s back. “Daddy’s coming, daddy’s coming.”

“Daddy’s here,” she heard from the doorway, turning to see Oliver standing there and approaching her with a look of concern on his face.

“Oh, thank god you’re here,” she breathed out. “I don’t know what’s wrong. She woke up and she was screaming. She’s not hurt, she’s not sick, she just keeps screaming and she only wants you. I think maybe she had a nightmare. I don’t know. Do toddlers get nightmares? I just-”

“It’s okay, I’m here now,” he murmured, stroking her back once and kissing her cheek before he stroked his daughter’s head. “Avaaa,” he cooed in the tone she adored. “Ava, Daddy’s here.”

Ava flew at him, tearing her head away from Felicity’s neck for the first time, and they managed to awkwardly juggle her between them until she was engulfed in Oliver’s arms and pressed against his chest. “Daaaadddy,” she sobbed.

“Daddy’s here, sweetheart,” he told her softly, stroking her back as Felicity had been. “Daddy’s got you.”

She kept sobbing for him, eventually quieting to something less than screaming but above whimpering. Felicity breathed out a heavy sigh of relief and pressed her forehead to Oliver’s shoulder. “You can get some sleep if you need to,” Oliver offered, nudging his head to the top of hers lightly. “You got up with her early this morning, I can handle this.”

“You were up late last night,” she reasoned. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her…”

“Did you have a bad dream, baby girl?” Oliver asked lightly, rewarded with an answer when she clung to him tighter and wailed painfully into his ear. “Okay, okay,” he soothed, kissing her head and leaving his lips against her forehead. “Okay, sweetheart, it’s all over now, Daddy’s home, Mommy’s here, Ava’s okay.”

Ava snivelled somewhat pathetically as she clutched at him. “Ava’s okay?” she repeated and revealed her tear-stained cheeks.

Felicity took advantage of finally seeing her face to wipe her thumbs across her cheeks, wiping the tears away. Exhausted and unsettled, Ava leaned into her touch while still clinging to Oliver. “Ava’s okay,” Felicity whispered, stroking her soft curls.

She looked around the room with wide, sad eyes, but she was considerably calmer. One of her hands splayed across Oliver’s chest and she started to stare at it in fascination, her breathing reduced to small hiccups. Oliver closed his hand over her tiny one. “You feel that?” he asked her in a soft voice. “You feel Daddy’s heart?”

“Heart,” she repeated in a scratchy croak.

“Yeah, heart, good girl,” he praised her. “Look, feel Mommy’s heart,” he said with a hint of wonder in his tone, directing his hand to Felicity’s chest over her pyjama top. Ava screwed her fist in the material and whispered ‘mommy’ before Oliver directed her hand to her own chest. “See, and Ava’s heart,” he said with the most adoration Felicity may have ever heard.

Ava looked confused, then lunged forward and placed a hand on each of her parents hearts, and they closed their palms over hers before they shared an emotional look.

“Wanna sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s bed tonight?” Oliver asked her.

Ava gave a small sniffle that broke their hearts all over again, and they moved to the bedroom. One of Oliver’s hands held his daughter to him, and one rested on the small of Felicity’s back. His girls needed to sleep. Once they were in the bedroom, he set his pyjama-clad daughter on the centre of the bed while Felicity climbed back in where she’d been heavily asleep an hour ago. “I’m just going to shower,” he told Felicity, but by the time he’d reached the bathroom door, Ava was breaking into sobs again. He turned back from their en suite, seeing his tired daughter sat with her arms outstretched for him, and he tracked back. “Okay, I’ll shower when she’s asleep.”

He crawled in on Ava’s side, with Felicity closing off her other side, and the little girl lay between them, clutching both their shirts in her tiny hand. Oliver lay close to her, kissing her tiny cheeks as Felicity lightly rubbed her hand over her stomach. Eventually, she calmed and fell asleep again, at which point both parents sighed.

“I don’t say it to guilt you, but I think she misses you,” Felicity admitted quietly.

“I was afraid of that,” Oliver agreed.

“I think she got too used to you as her night-time buddy.”

Oliver’s inability to sleep for more than four hours at a time had been a godsend with a newborn, and Ava had loved spending the small hours of the mornings with her father. Unfortunately now that Oliver was more active as the Arrow again, it meant she had to sacrifice those middle-of-the-night cuddles.

“Maybe I need to take some earlier nights,” he mused, stroking the top of his daughter’s head. “I know we’re doing a good thing with the team, but it’s not…worth this,” he said, not taking his eyes off of her. “That was hard, seeing her like that.”

“Really hard,” she agreed with a heavy sigh. “Let’s talk about it in the morning, okay?” she suggested. “It’s time we all got some sleep before she wakes up again.”

They met for a kiss over their sleeping daughter, then collapsed onto their own pillows. Maybe the night had been painful, but at least they were woken by their little girl using them as a climbing frame mumbling ‘momma up, daddy up’ over and over.


	3. Babble

Ava Queen is like her mother in every single way.

Every. Single. Way.

Oliver’s definitely not joking when he tells people that. He listens to the coos of ‘she’s got her father’s eyes’ and wants to tell people; you don’t understand, this girl has a devil inside her that was born in my wife.

It’s endearing, most of the time. It’s adorable. It’s something he loves when he comes home from a hard day being CEO - something he hadn’t wanted to spend his days doing again, but then again, he had a family to provide for and his night job didn’t pay - and his girls are waiting for him. They disagree on her smile. He thinks it’s all hers, she thinks it’s all his. They compromise. Ava’s particular smile of ‘I know I’m not allowed to do that so I’m gonna do it’ smile is inherited from her father, but that smile of pure elated joy at everything life throws at her is all Felicity.

She inherits her mother’s hair, or the dyed version at least. The more she grows, the more their home is filled with flashes of blonde moving from place to place - increasingly at the same speed, because Ava just learned to crawl and all those baby-proofing ads were not joking. But his home is filled with laughter, and happiness, and beauty…

…and talking.

A lot of talking.

Felicity babbles. He loves that about her. It was in the top three things on a very long list of things that made him fall in love with her. She babbles when she’s excited, she babbles when she’s nervous, and she babbles when she’s happy. She babbles on extra speed when she’s stressed. The only mood she doesn’t talk like there’s a motor running behind her tongue is when she’s sleep deprived.

Ava, much to their….delight…has inherited this trait from her as well.

She’s not talking yet, not quite there, but dear God, she’s trying. First was the animal sounds. She loves her animals, and Oliver discovered when she was sixteen weeks old that a three-am tantrum could easily be resolved with thirty minutes of Daddy Cuddle Time in front of the Discovery Channel. They don’t talk about what happened when Felicity caught them during Shark Week. They’re not allowed to mention that because he doesn’t ever want to see Felicity look that angry again.

Movies are fun. When Felicity works, Oliver decides it’s the prime opportunity to teach his daughter the important things in life; like appreciation for the original Star Wars movies. It’s adorable, the sounds she makes, but less adorable when he has to explain to Felicity why the usual babbling she hears when she walks through the door is filled with joyful ‘pew-pew’ noises as she crawls around the coffee table, hiding from Oliver as he chases her.

After the animal sounds, came the attempt at words. They’re stuck in that stage at the moment. Quite heavily stuck. Ava’s favourite thing to do is sit on Felicity’s hip while she’s talking on the phone and attempt to mimic every sound she makes. She fails, tremendously, but mimicking sparks the battle they’ve been holding off on for too long.

“Say Mama first. Mama.”

“Daaaadddy. Daaaaaadddddyyy.”

Of course, she says neither. She just stares at them, and resumes her best impression of a duck sound and continues refusing to eat her dinner in favour of trying to steal Oliver’s fork from his hand.

She’ll mimic anything else they attempt to say, though, as long as they’re not saying it directly to her. Except that one time, just before the babysitter arrived, that Oliver really wanted to see Felicity get flustered in that way he enjoys taking advantage of, and he followed her around the house with Ava on his hip, the two of them giving their own commentaries of what Mommy was doing.

Now, Oliver loves his daughter. She is the brightest part of his day, this most perfect thing he’s ever created a symbol of his undying love for his wife. She’s growing every day, slowly leaving behind her baby girl status and becoming a toddler, and she won’t be his little girl anymore, and now she’s about to speak and…

…and he just needs her to shut up for the next five minutes.

He’s trying to speak to an investor, and Felicity was supposed to be there ten minutes ago to take Ava with her, but she’s caught in traffic and he’s slowly wishing the world would implode on him and destroy this moment from existence.

It’s very hard to look like a professional CEO when his infant daughter is poking her fingers in his ear.

He takes her tiny hand in his, drawing his attention away from the investor and whispers a very tiny “no, Daddy’s working,” to her, which makes her frown in a way that he definitely recognises as one of his genetic inputs.

“So as I was saying, Mr-”

“Ahh-saah—baaaaaaah laaa daaaaa-”

He tries to speak over her. He tries.

He fails.

“We really appreciate your involvement with-”

“Maaaaaalalalallalala-”

“-very important to the business as a whole-”

“-ahhhsssaaaaahhhhh-”

“Ava,” he says a little sharply, turning his head and removing his tie from beneath her drooling chin. His voice softens at his daughter’s wide eyes. “Be quiet, Daddy’s talking.”

She can’t possibly understand, he tells himself, but she places her tiny hands on his cheeks as she leans close to him, and oh no, he can see what’s going to happen, he’s loves his daughter’s slobbering kisses usually because she’s pure adoration and affection for her father but their biggest investor is stood right in front of him and he’s going to have to finish this conversation with drool on his cheek and—

–and she squeezes his face in her cheeks and draws a deep breath before belting out her first coherent word.

“ _NO!_ ”

Everyone hears. Of course they do. Of course a meeting is emptying out across the hall. Of course Felicity and Diggle are exiting the elevator at that moment. Of course everyone fails to hold back their sniggering laughter. Of course his damned - wonderful, beautiful, perfect - wife is taking a photograph.

The investor, to his utter relief, doesn’t turn and leave without a further word. Instead, he cracks his first smile of the impromptu meeting, shakes Ava’s little hand, and tells her that he looks forward to doing business with the real Queen in charge of the company.

When Oliver finally hands Ava over to Felicity, he gives her a very serious, very terrified stare, and tells her in no uncertain terms; “we created a monster.”

She laughs, rolling her eyes in a way that he’ll only ever tolerate from her. “Let’s see if we do any better on Queen baby 2.0, shall we?” she suggested, hoisting their daughter onto her hip and heading back to the elevator.

The doors are closing in front of them by the time Oliver’s recovered from that statement.

“Queen baby 2.0? What? Felicity?”


	4. I'll Keep You Safe

Oliver couldn’t sleep. Again. It was hard to sleep lately, there was too much to worry about. Saving the city hardly compared to the overtaking of Palmer Technology, making amends for the lies he’d told during his stint with the League of Assassins, learning how to balance a relationship in a healthy way, rebuilding bridges, learning who Oliver Queen really was, and now after this afternoon there was also the matter of real estate which was far more stressful than he’d ever thought it might be.

 

Since returning to the city seven months ago, Oliver and Felicity had managed to exist between her small one-bedroom apartment and Thea’s much larger loft. It was easy to exist between the two, and with so many other things consuming their lives, as long as they had a bed to sleep in they didn’t consider rushing to find somewhere of their own. Thea insisted it was no trouble for them to live with her, but when the felt they were taking over his sister’s life too much or they needed some privacy they would end up in Felicity’s apartment. Now there was a pressing reason for them to find their own home, though, and after today, he was really starting to hate the legal process of finding somewhere. He didn’t realise what a challenge it would be to find somewhere suitable for their needs that was close enough to both the company building, their new foundry base and their friends and family. It was all so stressful and just another reason to add to the list of why he couldn’t sleep.

 

Felicity could sleep because she was exhausted; of course, why wouldn’t she be? Her body was doing things it had never done before. She was growing another person. A little mixture of them both that neither of them had planned for so soon in their relationship. He knew that it was more than exhausting, and witnessed every day how it was draining her body. The shine had gone from her eyes, replaced with something new, mixed with concern, cautious excitement and something else he’d never seen in her eyes before. She was pale from the sickness that came with the first trimester, and that hadn’t gone away just because they’d found out two weeks ago what was causing her symptoms.

 

They’d only known about this child for a short while and already Oliver had the sleeping pattern of a new father. Every time he found himself feeling relaxed, it was just another reminder that soon it wouldn’t be this way. Calmness would soon be a thing of the past, even a good night’s sleep would be taken from them. He was so overwhelmed by the oncoming onslaught of work, relationships, safety and training that he could hardly close his eyes.

 

Coming back from his third bathroom trip of the night, he wasn’t at all surprised to see that Felicity had sprawled out in his absence and was now laying out on her back in the middle of the bed. They’d come to her apartment tonight to go over some of their plans. Everything had been confirmed last week by a doctor, and now she was nine weeks, they’d agreed it was time to start thinking of plans. Unfortunately they couldn’t do that at Thea’s apartment as they hadn’t told anyone yet of their coming arrival. With the blanket kicked down it gave him the opportunity to stare at her stomach, still flat at the moment, and he wondered how it would look when the baby inside her started to grow. The little creature inside of her would grow, and it would grow quickly. Soon they’d be able to see the first evidence that it was really there, no longer just a concept but something they could see and feel.

 

He eased himself back into the bed as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb Felicity as she slept. Rolling to his side, his hand dropped carefully onto her hip, his face just inches away so that he could observe her. In the first days of their summer trip she’d remained so alert, so afraid that this was temporary and he would leave again, that any movement during the night would make her stir. Now, he could get up, dressed, and out for a run without her even being aware that he was gone. He loved her more than he knew how to explain, and by some absolute miracle she loved him as well. He knew he’d hit the jackpot when he realised that she loved him, and now she wasn’t just his girlfriend, she was going to be the mother of his child. Wasn’t that crazy?

 

Sure, he’d always imagined it someday. He’d known for a long time now that Felicity was the one that he wanted to spend every second of his life with. He wanted to selfishly take away her last name and tie her in with his. Treat her like a Queen in more ways than one. He wanted to wake up beside her every day, tangled up in her, her hair in his face and her breath against his neck. The way she surrounded him made him sure that he wanted every part of her with every part of him. He wanted spend his days romancing her, making her laugh, walking beside her, playing with her hair, kissing her. He wanted to travel more of the world with her, to show her some of the more beautiful parts of the world he’d seen and discover more of what neither of them had seen. He wanted to have a home with her that made memories through centuries, and yes, kids. He wanted her to have his children. He wanted them to be together on the day that their baby was born and for them to think of the beautiful things this would mean for them.

 

Now it was starting to happen for real, albiet far earlier than they had planned. The woman he loved was lying beside him, his child growing within her, and the way that the thought caught his breath in his chest made him forget about all the complications that might come from this.

 

Oliver drew his hand back across her hip, placing his palm instead over Felicity’s abdomen, all too aware of how his heart was pounding at the thought of what lay beneath it. When she didn’t stir he kept it there, running his thumb over the exposed skin that hid his unborn child. He didn’t move for a while, concentrating on his limited vision in the dark bedroom and the steady sound of Felicity’s breathing. Their baby was just beneath his palm, still a mystery to him. Their little boy or their little girl. To think that months from now they would be introducing this tiny being to people as their son or daughter was unbelievable.

 

He remembered a time when he had tried to crawl into bed with his parents, and how his mother had let him climb into her side of the bed until he fell back asleep. In a couple of years, would that be them? How would it feel to be the parent sleepily lifting up a toddler and letting them into the bed, waking up to the whisper of ‘daddy, I can’t sleep’, ‘daddy, I want a glass of water’ or ‘daddy, I’m scared’.

 

That last part made him draw in a breath. He knew far too much of what horrors would await his child, and he was unwilling to allow the world to inflict anything of the sort on his children. The thought of this tiny creation not yet born experiencing the heart pounding fear of kidnap, of pain, of the loss of a parent made him feel physically sick. He understood now why Felicity feared the idea of him not coming home each night. He thought of a child with Felicity’s eyes, crying in pain or fear, and it brought pinpricks of angry tears to his eyes. Not his child. Never his child. This child would fear nothing and would never feel as safe as they would in his arms.

 

He thought a lot about the parts of his childhood that were happy; like being in the bathtub and piling bubbles onto his face to pretend it was a beard. He wanted his kid to do that. But he also wanted more than the restriction of growing up in a family with such a strict upbringing. He wanted his kid to splash water everywhere and throw bubbles across the room. He wanted his kid to drag mug through the house after riding their bike. He wanted to show his little boy how to do a tie, and learn how to braid his little girl’s hair properly. He wanted to read the storybooks in the right voices and know the words to the songs they liked. He wanted to be involved in his child’s life, not just the presence of ‘dad’ that went to work, came home, and taught them right from wrong in all the wrong ways.

 

He shifted down the bed slightly, careful not to disturb Felicity still as he propped himself up on his elbow, hovering over her stomach, one thumb still skating around the smooth skin. He cast a quick look back to Felicity, seeing that she was still sleeping, before he lowered his head, inches away from his hand.

 

“Hey there,” he spoke in the quietest whisper. “I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing with any of this,” the idea was laughable, but it came out as more of a sign. “We’re not gonna get much one-on-one time until you’re here, so I thought I’d get in early. I’m going to mess up a lot, probably more times than I’ll do the right thing, but I promise I will always put you first,” he swore softly. “I promise I’ll do better than my father did. I will do everything I can to make sure that you are safe. You will never be afraid because I will always protect you. You will always be loved. Nothing will ever hurt you as long as I’m here. I really don’t know what I’m doing as a father, but I’m going to learn how to, to be the best dad that you deserve. Your mom though…your mom is going to be the best mom you could ever wish for. No one’s ever going to be as amazing as she is, and she’s going to teach you so many things. And she’s gorgeous. I hope you look just like her. You’re going to love her so much. She’s beautiful, she’s perfect, and she’s going to loveyou…and you’ve even got one up on me already, because you already know what her heart’s like from the inside.”

 

He leaned down a little more, ever so softly placing his lips beneath her navel, just beside the waistband of her pyjamas. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it, but the first time that he’d done it with a different kind of intimacy. His heart was pounding in a new way this time; excitement. All circumstances considered, he was going to be a father. Just an inch beneath his lips, within Felicity’s body, a baby was growing that had a heartbeat, that had a working, beating, living heart, and it was theirs. While accidental, it was created out of the strongest love he’d ever known. How could this be a bad thing? Bad timing, maybe, but this kid was going to be something brand new for them.

 

Now that they’d had some time to adjust to the initial shock, he couldn’t deny that he was overjoyed about this. It had happened much earlier than planned, but he was going to be a parent. He was going to have a little boy or girl that was half him, half Felicity. Having a kid with the love of your life was the greatest thing in the world, right? When he set all the circumstances aside, what was left was the side of him that knew the sight of Felicity carrying his baby would be beautiful and captivating, and the part of him that would - let’s face it - more than likely cry when he first held his baby.

 

“You’re going to change everything. Everyone who ever hurt us…all the people we’ve hurt too…none of that is going to matter when we see you, when we can hold you…” he mumbled into her stomach. “The great possible thing that could ever come from what life did to me…is you. You’re going to light this whole world up for us.”

 

It was the soft kisses that woke Felicity, slowly at first, then faster at the gentle whisper of Oliver’s voice. With sleep still holding her it took her a moment to realise that he wasn’t talking to her, and she worried for a brief moment that she’d dozed off mid-conversation again that week. With that realisation, her eyes snapped open and she looked down the length of her body to have her first thoughts confirmed. He was talking to the baby.

 

It made her soften, a tender smile curving her lips as she turned her head to watch him more carefully and better hear his words. When he fell silent, she moved one hand to skate through his hair, giving him a smile that carried the full weight of her love and adoration for him.

 

“They’re going to love you too,” she said quietly, her voice filled with certainty as she moved her hand and placed it over his, both palms pressing against her abdomen. “They’re going to be the luckiest kid on the world to have you for a dad.”

 

Oliver tensed for a moment when he felt the touch but quickly relaxed into it, drawing his eyes up to meet hers. The feeling of fingers running across his scalp was something perfect to him. He’d felt foolish at first, speaking out loud to a child that probably didn’t even have ears yet, but it had a heartbeat and that was enough for him. The fact that Felicity’s quiet response was gentle, not at all mocking, had him crawling back to lay beside her, his hand still contently placed between hers and their unborn child.

 

He settled back to his pillow with a sigh, his lips finding hers easily as his free arm slipped beneath her pillow to embrace her. “I won’t ever leave my family,” he said quietly. “I’m going to love my child. I do love my child,” he corrected. He already felt that, a strange but intense love that had appeared almost overnight within him, unconditionally, unlike anything he’d felt before.

 

His eyes slipped closed, his next kiss landing on her forehead. “When I thought about having a family of my own all I ever wanted was to be part of that love…not on the outside of it like my father was so much. I wanted to make my kid happy and now I can have that life,” he admitted, the last whisper barely audible against her skin as he tried to cover the cracking emotion in it. “Thank you.”


	5. Small Bump Unborn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Do you accept prompts? Like someone accidentally pushed Felicity or something while she’s pregnant and she has threatened miscarriage. Maybe Oliver was in a meeting or i dunno. Established Olicity.

The last time Oliver rushed into a hospital this quickly, Thea was dying in his arms. It shocks him that the sick feeling in his stomach is stronger than that. It shocks him that all he wants to do is cry at the mere thought but he doesn’t. He needs to be the strong one now, because from what he had learned during the brief conversation that ended his meeting, Felicity certainly was in no position to be strong.

He’d been halfway through the budget meeting she insisted he couldn’t miss when he had to cancel three calls from Diggle. It was rare for him to do that, usually looking for any excuse, but this meeting makes or breaks the entire company and he needs to see this through. When Diggle excuses himself into the meeting only seconds later, he knows he made the wrong choice.

In hushed tones, he tells him what he realises has been his worst fear for the last five months.

Felicity was shoved accidentally on the stairs when she was in the mall with Thea earlier that morning. She fell and hasn’t felt the baby move since. Thea took her to the emergency room but couldn’t get through to Oliver, but when they’d admitted Felicity she’d panicked and called Diggle.

Oliver hadn’t even paused to cancel the meeting, he just left.

Diggle drove him because his hands were shaking. His hands never shook. But now they were trembling.

“What if-”

“Don’t jump to the worst place,” Diggle cut him off. “Wait and hear what the doctors have to say.”

In his past experiences, the doctors never had anything good to say.

When they arrive, he blindly gives his wife’s name and is shown to the room where Thea is waiting outside. She visibly relaxes when she sees her brother and walks right into his arms. “Ollie, I’m so sorry, we didn’t even-”

“It’s not your fault,” he assures her with a sad smile. “Diggle said she fell, is she-?”

“She’s not hurt. We just…wanted to be safe, but then…” she looked more worried than Oliver had seen her for a long time.

But what?

“Where is she?” he asked, looking through the doorway and spotting Felicity curled up on her side in the only bed in the room. He didn’t even cast a second glance at his sister and friend before he was moving to her side.

Her eyes are closed, but she wasn’t asleep. He could see her lips moving, muttering gently to herself as both hands gently pressed to the small swell on her stomach. They were just over halfway through their first pregnancy. Twenty one weeks. They were having a girl. They wanted to find out. Life gave them enough surprises, and when it came to their relationship they prefered concrete to guesswork.

Oliver leaned over to kiss her forehead, alerting her to his presence as her eyes flickered open. When she leaned up to him his next kiss fell on her lips, his hands cradling her face. “Felicity…” he whispered, his voice fraught.

“I didn’t think you’d get here in time,” she said, and he could tell by her voice that she’d been crying. “The meeting…”

“-is not important. This is where I need to be,” he cut her off quickly, as she shifted back on the bed. It made perfect room for him to sit with his back against the frame, and then she wasn’t leaning against the pillow but against him. His legs crossed over themselves on the mattress, and she tucked into his side, her bump cradled against his side as he placed his free hand over hers, their fingers meshing over the expanse of skin. “Have you been seen by the doctor yet?” he asked.

She shook her head against him. “They did an exam in the emergency room and admitting me, and they’ve taken a blood test. They’re just waiting to be able to do an ultrasound and the doctor will be back.” Her voice seemed barely in control, and his arm tightened around her. “I didn’t know if you’d get the message in time, I was going to get Thea back in. I didn’t want to get the ultrasound alone.”

“Have we lost her?” he asked quietly, his eyes filled with tears he refused to shed.

“I don’t know,” she said, biting on her lip. “It was just a small fall, I didn’t hit my stomach, I was careful not to land badly and then I just…I bled a bit, and I feel crampy, which I know I shouldn’t.” Her hand laced more tightly with Oliver’s and her face buried into the side of his chest with a ragged breath. “I can’t feel her moving, Oliver. She hasn’t moved in so long, and I’m so scared.”

The idea of her alone here for almost an hour while he was in that damned meeting made his heart clench. It struck him then that he was just as scared. It was angering him that his unborn child was in real danger and all he could do was touch the skin of the mother who carried her. He wanted to be able to lift his child up and hold her away from the world, but he was so powerless in that moment that it made him feel sick. He could only hold his wife a little tighter, drop his voice to a soft whisper and plaster his lips to her forehead. “I’m scared too.”

–

The doctor came back around an hour later. By now, they were both nervous wrecks. In order to keep Felicity comfortable, Oliver had moved into the chair beside the bed and their joined hands were resting over her stomach. They’d been silent ever since falling into that position, while they both silently willed for their child to be as big a fighter as they were. Oliver tried not to think about the statistics in the brochures they had outside, the ones that showed how horrible common miscarriage was. Felicity’s lips never stopped moving, mouthing the word ‘please’ over and over.

They both lifted their heads as the doctor greeted them with a smile. Neither of them smiled back. Felicity went to sit up a little but she advised her to lay still as much as possible until after the ultrasound. “Okay, I just need to ask you a few questions before we get started,” she said, turning to the paperwork she held. Oliver could have answered just as many as she did, but the onslaught of questions suddenly made the reality of this situation far clearer. Felicity focused on the questions as much as she could, her voice steady though he knew her better than to trust just her voice. He knew her better than he knew anyone in the world, and she was downright terrified. Still, she answered as obediently as if she were at work.

Her pregnancy was twenty-one weeks along. Her last normal period was in March. This was her first pregnancy. She had no other children. She had never had a miscarriage before. She had never experienced an ectopic pregnancy. She hadn’t been using any birth control when she got pregnant. This was a planned pregnancy. She was receiving antenatal care. She had an ultrasound last week confirming the pregnancy was progressing well. She had no medical conditions. She was taking no medication other than her vitamins. She felt cramping in her lower stomach. She had bled slightly but it had stopped now. The baby hadn’t moved for two hours and seventeen minutes.

Felicity had closed her eyes as the doctor did a pelvic exam. Oliver gripped her hands, watching the line appear between her eyebrows in the way she winced through the procedure. It struck him then, the things women endured to bring life into this world. There had never been doubt that she would bear his children. There was no one he’d wanted to me, and he thought it was because she didn’t even try to be brave. She was open with him. She didn’t try to shield him from any part of this pregnancy. If she was sick, the bathroom door was left open so he could follow her and hold back her hair, she lay in bed with her shirt up above her bump while she rubbed a certain oil into her skin that she’d been told would reduce stretch marks, and she told him when she was scared.

The doctor sat, snapping off the gloves that Oliver was startled to see a little blood on. He must have made a sound because the doctor gave him an assuring smile. “Don’t worry, it’s entirely normal. But very lucky for you, your cervix is still closed. Early labour isn’t going to be a risk, but since we can’t feel the little one moving around I’d like to do an ultrasound and take a look what’s going on, is that okay with you, Felicity?”

Felicity nodded, a rush of breath leaving her when it was confirmed that she wasn’t going to end up in a dangerous, premature labour. That was only one hurdle to claim, however, and she dutifully raised the gown they’d given her to wear over her stomach as the doctor left to bring the ultrasound machine in.

“Hey,” Oliver found his voice as last, one hand coming up to stroke the hair away from her face when she looked at him. “Whatever happens in the next five minutes, I love you,” he assured her.

She leaned into his hand, bringing hers up to cover it. “It’s going to be fine, right? She’s going to be okay?”

He couldn’t say yes, but he could give her a watery smile. “God, I really hope so,” he breathed out.

They were spared any more privacy by the doctor coming back and beginning the ultrasound. Oliver knew what happened at this part by now, as this was their third. He knew to look at the screen and hold her hands tightly, only this time he couldn’t look. Last time he’d been brought to his knees at the sight of his unborn child stretching her legs, with Felicity confirming that she could feel it. This time he’s the one screwing his eyes shut, pressing his face into their joined hands because if this doctor is about to tell them that he’s not a father anymore he doesn’t think he can handle it.

Felicity makes an emotional sound, and he fears the worst, but then she tugs on his hands to make him look up. “Oliver, look,” she whispers.

He looks at her first, tears on her blotchy cheeks, lip tugged up between her teeth, looking off to the side where the ultrasound screen is. He follows her line of sight all the way to the black and white swirls, and there, right in the centre of his screen, his daughter’s hands are moving.

A loud rush of hair leaves his lips, and he wondered how long he’d been holding that breath in, but while the movement is only slight, so slight even Felicity can’t feel it, it’s proof that their child is still alive. He brings the hands of his wife up to his lips and kisses them furiously, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Oh, thank god,” he breathes heavily, wiping tears off his cheeks.

“That is the best news we could hope for after a fall like this,” the doctor smiles at them. “We’re going to keep you for a few more hours just to make sure the bleeding has definitely stopped, but you are going to have to take things very easy for a few days.”

Felicity nods, her eyes fixed on the screen. “Anything.”

–

They eventually leave the hospital as the sun is going down, and even fight off a few reports who followed Oliver in his mad dash to the airport. He waves them off with a smile for once, ignoring their invasion of privacy because he is very proud to admit that his daughter is growing and healthy. The press go mad that night, and the evening news is full of the revelation that the Queen family is gaining a princess.

“So that’s going to be her official name for the next eighteen years,” Felicity said later that night, as they curl up in their bed - at least six pillows behind her at Oliver’s insistence, and two spoons delving into the same shared tub of mint chip.

“Of course,” Oliver agrees, as if anything else would be a terrible choice of nickname. “You’re my Queen, I need a princess.”

She smiled, but it freezes as she gasps, and then she’s scrambled for his hand. He doesn’t fight her. She’s been feeling parts of movement all night that just turned out to be gas, but this time she presses his hand to the top side of her stomach and he feels it. The solid kick. One swift press against his hand that he’s never felt so strong as he did then.

“There you are,” he says softly, ducking his head down to kiss the spot on Felicity’s stomach that curved out the most. “We’ve been waiting for you to show up.”


	6. For Her

Oliver’s been to many places around the world by the time he comes to start a family, and he’s seen beauties that far outweigh the chaos that once tried to consume him.

He’s seen the beauty of a sunrise across the Grand Canyon on a June morning, with the love of his life standing at his side. He’s seen the beauty of oceans lapping sandy shores and the bare feet of the woman he loves walking through them. He’s seen the beauty of a sky after the thunder clouds clear and cities that bustle with family life, common people with simple dreams and now he is one of them. He’s seen the beauty of his wife applying her lipstick in the bathroom mirror, the way her eyes flicker to him and light up instantly, the way she smiles at him and takes his hand and pulls him to her. It’s beauty, all of it.

But he’s never experienced true beauty until his daughter is placed in his arms for the very first time.

When his baby girl is handed to him, wrapped in a blanket, still fresh from birth, his hands that were shaking for the last hour of Felicity’s labour come to a firm stop. The hands that hold this precious life don’t tremble for fear of dropping her, determination keeping her so incredibly safe against him that he daren’t even try to pass her another person because this is the safest place she will ever be. A doctor hands him this tiny form he half created within his wife’s body - a sneaky weekend away in Coast City, they’d figured out - and he looks down at her scrunched face and her open, screaming mouth, and God, he just never wants to let her go.

Fears melt away into nothing as he brings this swaddled child against his chest and finds that she’s barely enough to fill his arms. She’s small, even for a baby, but they’ve assured the concerned parents - parents! - that she’s healthy all the same. She’s certainly got healthy lungs. Her screams are filling the room but he barely hears them as anything more than his daughter’s voice cementing the fact that she was here at last. She cries and screams her displeasure at her birth, as disgruntled as her mother is at the idea of waking most mornings, and he places his lips against her head, inhaling the new-baby scent of his first born child. His child. His baby. His daughter.

Over the smooth curve of her head he meets Felicity’s eyes, exhausted and drained while the doctors clean her up so that she can get some much needed rest. She’s never been stronger in his eyes. A twenty-two hour labour hasn’t taken the spark out of her eyes even though they’re still teary from when they placed the seconds-old wriggling child against her chest. He felt a rush as he watched a three second exchange between instructions to push and then she was being lifted from his wife’s body and placed onto her chest as if it were something that had happened a thousand times already, and that cry, that first newborn cry, had broken the wall that Oliver had spent too many years putting between himself and the world.

He goes to Felicity’s side, their daughter snug in his arms. “She’s perfect,” he tells her, not at all surprised to hear that his voice is thick with tears that have taken up residence on his cheeks. “She’s so perfect.”

And despite their endless it’s a boy/it’s a girl argument, of which he fell to the boy side, she is perfect. She’s got ten fingers, ten toes, a beating heart and his dusty blonde/brown hair. Or at least she will have. It’s a dark brown at the moment but he can see a light tint around the edges and it looks a lot like Felicity’s dyed colour. She’s got Felicity’s nose but his chin, and Oliver wonders if she’ll have his smile. It’s something that Felicity was adamant she wanted her child to have, boy or girl, but there’s something about the shape of her eyes that makes  him so sure that when the baby dark blue eyes start to change they’ll end up just like hers. She’ll be a replica of her mother with a Queen smile. How can that be anything less than stunning?

He falls into the chair at Felicity’s side and returns his focus to the baby. She’s starting to quiet down now, her tiny face looking around even though her eyes haven’t opened properly yet. “Oh, my baby girl,” he whispers, bringing her closer again so that he could kiss her once more. “I love you so much.” His eyes turned to Felicity, who watches with half-lidded eyes. “Is this even possible?” he asks. “To love someone so quickly?”

Tired beyond belief, she just nods at him, reaching over an arm to place it on his for that hint of closeness.

“I love her,” he whispers again, this time looking down at the child. A tear slips down his cheek and lands on the blanket that his daughter is swaddled in. He wipes it away but doesn’t hide the ones that follow. It just hits him so hard. He is a father now. This tiny creature is his daughter. She will grow to call him Daddy, he will comfort her in the night, he will spend the rest of his days ensuring she is safe and protected and loved. He wants to teach her everything she wants to learn, he wants to spend his sleepless nights pacing the halls with her, he wants to come home to see her sprawled asleep on her mother. The rest of his life is going to revolve around the little girl who fits in his hands and he is entirely okay to lose the priority in his life as long as he can devote everything he is to her.

“Oliver,” Felicity whispers with a question in her tone, her hand touching the cheek stained in his tears.

“Thank you,” he chokes out with a smile, standing once again so he can lean over and kiss her, one hand smoothing her hair back while the other still cradles their daughter against him securely - he has been practising his whole life to keep his daughter safe and he will not fail her. Failing her is unthinkable. There are two girls who hold his entire heart now, but God, this baby girl has stuck her minuscule fingernails into his heart and he doesn’t ever want her to let go. “Thank you, for her.”

For saving me.

For guiding me.

For building me into a better man.

For loving me.

For her.

And Felicity smiles at him, kisses their daughter, and as he passes the baby girl to her mother, that rush of beauty hits him again. His wife and daughter in the same embrace - both his, both perfect - and he has to sit on the side of the mattress before the overwhelming urge to fall to the ground hits him for the fifth time that day. She whispers words of love and adoration to their newborn child and he wipes his cheeks again, kissing the top of her hear and their daughter’s. To hear the name they picked out finally whispered to the little girl who is so at ease in her mother’s arms is more than he can handle without his heart lurching in his chest.

Ava Moira Queen. His daughter.

Is there anything more beautiful than that?


	7. Daddy's Little Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> acheaptrickandacheesyoneline said:
> 
> You just gave us the story of FIRST WORD. Can we have First Step? Or first time meeting Queen Baby 2.0?

It’s amazing how similar babies look when there’s sixteen of them in a line.

Oliver lifted Ava up onto his hip, showing her the room of babies through the glass window, tiny wrapped bundles in their plastic cribs. “Uhh…” He looked through the cards, the different surnames printed on the front of the cribs, each card coloured with whatever gender the baby was. Blue, Jenkins…pink, Parsons….pink, Bailey…blue, Greenwood…pink, Morris….blue, Queen…

“There!” Oliver announced, pointing his finger at the far left corner and moving until they were right in front of him. He kept his finger pointing towards the baby while Ava leaned closer to the window. “Do you see him?”

Ava nodded, her eyes wide with awe. “It’s a baby,” she whispered in astonishment.

“It’s our baby,” he told her in a soft tone. “That’s your baby brother.”

“What’s his name?” Ava asked, pressing both her hands against the glass and rubbing her nose against it.

“His name is Thomas,” he told her. “But we’re going to call him Tommy.”

“Tommy,” Ava repeated, trying out the name on her tongue.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

She tested it a few more times then nodded firmly. “Yes, I like it. He can keep it.”

Oliver grinned, kissing the top of her head. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Why did we get another baby?”

Oliver can’t deny he started to sweat a little at the back of his neck. He’d really been hoping that Felicity would have been present for this conversation. “Because…Mommy and Daddy love each other very much,” he explained, trying not to stammer. “And when Mommys and Daddys love each other, sometimes they’re blessed with a baby, and that’s how we got you.”

“But why do you have to have another one?” she asked, tearing her eyes away from the glass.

“Because we have lots of love to give, don’t we?” he asked to get her involved. “You and me and Mommy love each other very much, and we can make a baby very very loved in our family.”

“But we already love each other, what if we can’t love him that much?” she asked.

“We can,” he nodded.

Ava frowned at him, tilting her head. God, she looked so much like her mother when she did that. “But how do you know?”

“Because Daddy knows everything,” he reminded her.

She screwed her face up. “Auntie Thea said that’s a load of bull.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Auntie Thea shouldn’t be teaching you naughty things to say, should she?” he warned her, and she had the heart to look ashamed before he continued. “Ava, before you came along it was just Mommy and Daddy, and we loved each other so, so much. So do you know what we did?”

“You got married and Mommy wore the pretty dress and then I was born and I played with Mommy’s lipstick and I got it on her dress because I was playing in her closet when I wasn’t supposed to be,” she babbled.

Yes, exactly like her mother.

“When did that happen?” Oliver asked her curiously.

Ava’s eyes went wide. “Never ever,” she rushed out. “That…was a naughty fib.”

He had a startling realisation that he should book an appointment with the dry cleaner before Felicity went into the back of their closet again.

“My point, Ava, is that when we decided we loved each other so so much, we got married so that we would be family. And then we wanted our family to be even bigger. So we had you, and when you were born, do you know what happened?”

“You cried.”

“Who told you that?”

“Uncle Digg.”

“Of course he did.”

“He said it wasn’t a manly cry either.”

Oliver gave her his best Daddy look and she pressed her lips together.

“When you were born, there was so much more love,” he told her, kissing the side of the head. “Because there were three of us, and we all had love for each other. So now we have Tommy and there’s going to be even more love in our family. Do you understand?”

“So I didn’t get too big for you?” she asked, as if she’d been worried about that for a while.

“Hey, you,” he nudged her a little. “You’re mine forever and ever. You’re my little girl. My very first little girl, and that’s a very, very special thing.”

She turned back to the glass, plastering herself against it. “But I’m not a baby anymore, am I, Daddy?” she said, not taking her eyes off of her little brother.

He kissed her hair. “You’re always going to be my baby,” he murmured.

“Even when I’ve got lots of babies too?”

He resisted the temptation to tell her that she wasn’t allowed to start dating until she was eighty. “Even then,” he assured her.

“Tommy looks funny,” she said, screwing up her face at him.

“That’s because he was only born last night.”

“But he’s all wrinkly like Grandma’s face.”

Oliver made a mock gasp, causing Ava to look at him. “I’m gonna tell Grandma you called her wrinkly.”

Ava looked panicked. “No! No! I didn’t mean it!” She clapped her hands over her mouth.

“I’m gonna tell her,” he teased her.

“Nooooo,” she whined.

“Okay, but on one condition?” he said.

“I’ll be good all the time,” she swore.”

“You have to be the best big sister ever,” he made her promise. “Can you do that for me?”

She nodded furiously. “I will be the bestest best sister ever in the whole wide world.”

Oliver smiled, watching as his daughter went back to ogling his newborn son through the glass. “That’s my girl.”


	8. Reach for the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> emilybuttrickards said:
> 
> could you maybe do one of Oliver & Felicity taking Ava on a little road trip when she is a toddler? A little not do the s3 hiatus roadtrip

**7.00am**

“Oliver, have you got her juice cup?”

“It’s in the bag?”

“Why is it in the bag?”

“Because you told me to pack it?”

“I told you to put it in the car.”

“You definitely told me to pack it, Felicity.”

“Why would I tell you to pack it, she needs it while we’re driving…”

“Felicity-”

“Fine, I’ll do it myself, like everything else this morning.”

“Felicity-”

“What, Oliver?”

“…I got your coffee. Please drink it before you eat me alive.”

**9.00am**

“If we keep stopping we’re never going to make it to the state line before lunch.”

“Well, then maybe we need to have a later lunch because Ava needs a break.”

“We’ve only been driving for two hours. She’s fine.”

“She’s getting restless.”

“She’s two years old, she’s always restless.”

“Because she wants to stretch her legs.”

“We’re in the middle of a freeway, we can’t let her stretch her legs for at least another ten miles.”

“Then we need to stop in ten miles.”

**11.15am**

“I know you said you weren’t hungry, but since we’re not stopping for lunch until later I got you a Happy Meal.”

“…you mean, you got Ava a Happy Meal, right?”

“…”

“…Felicity, it’s really important to me that you didn’t buy me a kids meal.”

“Relax, I got you a Big Mac.”

**2.45pm**

“Maybe we should put a movie on the tablet for her?”

“We promised no technology for her on this trip, we can’t back out after eight hours.”

“Even if it’s been a really long eight hours?”

“No, we can do this. We can be strong.”

“Do we have to be?”

“Reach over and get my iPod, we can try the Disney playlist?”

**3.10pm**

“It’s the CIIIIIIIRRRRRCCCLLEEEE OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIFEEEEEEEE!”

**4.23pm**

“Do you hear that?”

“No.”

“Exactly. I think she’s finally napping.”

“Have you looked back?”

“No! I am one-hundred-percent sure that girl senses movement.”

“Right, that’s it, I am banning Jurassic Park movies.”

**5.10pm**

“Our choices for dinner are McDonalds-”

“We had McDonalds for lunch.”

“Burger King?”

“We had McDonalds for lunch.”

“We can stop for-”

“We had McDonalds for lunch.”

**8.10pm**

“Are you sure this motel had baby facilities?”

“I’m sure, but really, we have everything we need and I’d much rather use our stuff rather than the motel facilities. I mean, what if it hasn’t been cleaned properly?”

“She’ll probably end up sleeping in the bed with us anyway.”

“True, she does hate new places.”

“We still need to apologise to Digg and Lyla for the night she screamed for six hours.”

“She did eventually fall asleep though so it wasn’t a total failure.”

“…She didn’t fall asleep until four in the morning, and then she woke up at five.”

**9.00pm**

“Felicity, wake up.”

“Momma.”

Felicity blinked awake, the dark night sky meeting her before the faces of her husband and daughter appeared in front of her. Ava was settled in her lap, wide awake despite the depth she’d been asleep only a few…wow, she’d been asleep for an hour? Felicity shook herself a little, not sure what had made her drop off, but now the top was down on the car, and the cool air surrounded them.

“Mmm, chilly,” she shuddered, drawing her blanket-wrapped daughter close and snuggling into the warmth. “Why are we stopping? We need to get to the motel-” Oliver just looked up, and Ava placed her hands on her mother’s cheeks.

“Momma, look!” she said in a whispered awe, pressing her cheeks together and forcing her head back so they were all looking up.

Above them, without street lights to adhere the view, the stars were beau–no, beautiful wasn’t enough. This was just…astounding. Mesmerising. Ava sometimes had trouble seeing more than ten feet in front of her without getting distracted, but her tiny face was lit up with fascination as she looked up.

“Staaaars,” she cooed upwards.

An arm slid around Felicity’s shoulder, and she leaned into Oliver’s embrace, switching her gaze to him. “Still think this was a terrible idea with a toddler?” he asked in a low, rumbling tone.

Felicity merely smiled at the sight of her captivated daughter reaching up towards the stars. They’d never see them this clearly back in Star City.

“It’s still better than the fourteen hour car tantrum last year.”


	9. It Was An Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Hey! Could you perhaps do something where something really bad/life threatening happens to little Ava. Maybe a severe asthma attack, bad fall, sickness etc. Showing Oliver and Felicity’s utter distress… Thanks! :D
> 
> Note: Okay, whoever this is. You’re pure evil. Pure, pure evil. Wishing harm upon baby Ava? How very dare you. Nice try staying anonymous. We will find you and take you down. Who am I kidding? I made it cute. Oliver got his Daddy feels a lot lately, let’s have some Momma loving.

Oliver answers the phone to gut-wrenching sobs that make his blood run cold. Felicity.

“Where are you?” he asks her instantly, already picking up his keys with a shake of his head to Diggle to let him know he was leaving. Diggle nodded, signalling a phone shape with his hand to call him if he needs anything.

“Hospital,” she says with a ragged breath, he can hear her trying to get it under control and then she speaks again. “I was taking the laundry upstairs and Ava must have been behind me and I slipped and backed into her and she _fell_ , Oliver, she fell all the way down and I brought her here just in case because she was _really_ crying and now they’ve taken her for x-rays and a CT scan because she hit her head and oh _god_ , Oliver, what if I really hurt her? What if I-”

“Felicity, take a breath,” he tells her firmly, though his hands start to shake at the idea of his baby girl in the hospital. “I’m on my way right now. Where’s Tommy?”

“He’s here. My phone battery died and I couldn’t reach anyone so I had to bring him and all I have is this stupid payphone and enough change for this one call and I don’t even have the insurance card and-.”

Oliver cupped his hand over the end of the phone, turning and doubling back to Diggle. “Ava’s in the hospital, she fell and hit her head,” he says, the concern finally seeping into his tone. “Can you come with me and take Tommy? Felicity’s got him at the hospital but he’ll need feeding and bed soon.”

Diggle nods, getting ready to leave as they walked out and Oliver returns to the phone where Felicity was still babbling. “Felicity, I’m going to be there in ten minutes, okay?” he assures her. “Five minutes,” he corrected.

–

He makes it there in three.

–

“Felicity!” he shouts in the hospital waiting room, until he spots his shaking wife beside a baby boy in his car-seat in the corner. She’s pacing, chewing on her nail, but she rushes to him and throws her arms around him.

“Oliver, I swear I didn’t mean to hurt her, I didn’t even know she was behind me, I _swear_ it-”

“It’s okay,” he whispers into her hair, stroking it as she holds herself to him and takes deep shuddering breaths. “It’s okay, I know you’d never hurt her…is she okay? Have they said anything?”

She shakes her head, pulling away to wipe her face. “I don’t know what they’re doing but they wouldn’t let me go with them because of Tommy and I couldn’t leave him.”

“Okay,” he breathes. “Digg’s outside, he’s got the car and he’s going to take Tommy home tonight. He’ll feed him and put him down and then we can pick him up on our way home, and we’re going do what we need to do for Ava, okay?”

“Okay,” she repeats with a strangled voice, and turns her attention to Tommy, checking the straps on his seat and bowing her head. “I didn’t bring his bottles, or any more diapers or anything,” she said in defeat.

“It’s fine, I’ll give Digg my house key and he can get anything he needs,” Oliver tells her, and after she’s kissed their six-month-old goodbye, he takes the car-seat out to where Digg’s waiting with the car and loads the boy in, giving Digg everything he needs and sending them away.

When he returns, he feels significantly less in control. His daughter is somewhere in this building - scared, in pain - and he has no idea where, only that he has to be there. He goes back to Felicity, embracing her for the longest moment, before they move to the reception desk and he puts his arm around her waist while he taps their insurance card impatiently against the white surface.

“Can I help you?” a nurse asks him.

“Yes, I need an update on my daughter. Ava Moira Queen, three years old,” he replies, his calm voice wavered with concern.

“Date of birth?” she asks.

“May 2nd, 2017.”

“Blood-”

Felicity slams her hand on the counter, her answer snapping and filled with unshed tears. “Her blood group is A-positive. She’s allergic to penicillin and nuts. She has brown hair and blue eyes and she was admitted forty-five minutes ago. We are her parents and our other child is now not in this hospital so can you please, for the love of all that is good in this world, _take me to my daughter_!”

The reception area goes still, several admin assistants and other waiting families staring in wonder and Oliver can see it now in tomorrow’s news _Mayor’s Wife Terrifies Local Hospital_ but she is completely right.

Another nurse steps forward, holding a chart in her hand. “Mr and Mrs Queen? I’ve been sitting with your daughter while she’s had her tests done, please, follow me,” she offers, and they go in a heartbeat.

“Is she okay?” they both ask the moment they catch up to her.

The nurse turns to them with a calm smile. “We did a quick x-ray because she was experiencing a lot of pain in her left arm, but there are no broken bones to worry about. She will have a lot of bruising in the area that will be uncomfortable for her, but it will start to go down within a few days.”

“But they said something about her head, a CT scan?” Felicity asks in a panic. “She hit her head when she fell?”

“She’s got a bump, but there’s no trauma to worry about,” she assures them, and they both breathe a sigh of relief. “The doctor recommended to keep her out of pre-school tomorrow just to keep an eye on her.”

“Okay,” they say, sharing a silent look that said they’ll both be taking the day off to be home with her tomorrow.

“So I didn’t break her?” Felicity blurts out.

Oliver places his hand on her shoulder. “Felicity-”

“No, this is all my fault,” she says guiltily. “I should have been paying more attention to where she was, I should have been watching her but I-”

“Mrs Queen, I can assure you, we take all instances of home injury into careful consideration, and no one believes your daughter is a victim of anything more than a simple accident,” the nurse assures her. Oliver hates that, though. He understands they have to consider all accidents in case anything is a hidden case of child endangerment, but this is his daughter and there’s not a person in the world who loves her as much as Felicity does, except him. The nurse senses his discomfort and gives them both another smile. “Really, we see instances like this every day. Children fall over, the run into things, they eat things they shouldn’t. It’s not a reflection on you.”

Except Oliver would rather his clumsy toddler be a reflection on him than be painted out to be anything less than the perfect human being she was.

They’re lead to a room where Ava is sitting up looking at a book on animals with another nurse, and when she sees them enter she starts to cry again and holds out her arms with a heartbreaking cry for “Mommy!”

Felicity’s there in an instant, whisking her little girl up into her arms and kissing the side of her head that doesn’t have a very obvious bump underneath her curling bangs. “There’s my brave little girl,” she praises, hiding the fact that she’s still crying herself by burying her face into her hair while Ava clings to her.

“Mommy,” she more whines then cries, grateful just not to be with strangers anymore, then she spots her other favourite person and reaches for him too. “Daddy-”

Oliver places down the final signature on her paperwork and is at her side, cradling her tiny hand in his and smothering it in kisses. “Hey, baby girl,” he whispers, while she grips his much larger hand in her own and holds onto Felicity’s neck with the other. “Ready to go home?”

–

Ava’s afternoon at the hospital exhausts her into an early bedtime, and when Oliver finishes putting Tommy into his crib and he can’t find Felicity where he expects to find her. Their bed is still empty, so he picks up the baby monitor and heads to the next place he expects her. On the way he replaces the afternoon that was suddenly dropped to a halt when Ava fell - he takes the coffee cups from that morning down to the kitchen, shuts off the lights, picks up the toys left in the hall, and then appears in the doorway of his daughter’s bedroom.

There, in Ava’s small bed, is his wife and daughter curled together, fast asleep. There’s a discarded book across Felicity’s knee, and Ava’s sprawled out across her chest. He adores the way they hold each other, always has, always will. Mother and daughter gravitate towards each other in a way they never had to learn, like this is an extension of how Felicity once carried her, only now their bodies fit together on the outside. Ava is a Daddy’s girl to the core, but she is so very much her mother’s daughter that Oliver almost wishes she could really appreciate these moments of sweetness she never gets to see like he does.

There’s no way either of them are moving tonight.

He moves further into the room, taking off Ava’s half slipped-off socks and bringing the duvet up to cover them both. Neither of them stir, not even when he takes off Felicity’s glasses and sets them on the bedside table beside the Frozen lamp. He switches it off, plunging the room into a semi-darkness with only her Cinderella night light to ease the shadows, and kisses his girls goodnight.

He goes back to their bedroom, lifting their sleeping baby son out of the crib at the end of their bed and bringing him into the bed with him, letting him sleep across his bare chest. “Just you and me tonight, kiddo,” he murmurs, as he falls asleep with his son’s gentle breaths against his neck.


	10. Daddy Fix Blankie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> PROMPT ❤️❤️ Ava gets mad at Oliver for the first time and wants Felicity. (Oliver doesn’t know how to react because he’s usually the favorite)

“Daddy, _no_!”

A tiny hand pushes at his chest, pushes him away, and Oliver’s heart breaks. It actually hurts. He knows it shows on his face because Felicity gives him a sympathetic look even though their daughter is clinging to her in a bid to get further away from him.

He doesn’t know how to react to that, other than to admit that ouch, that hurts.

Daddy was in trouble.

Daddy had done a bad thing.

Daddy tried to get rid of Blankie.

Blankie is the fourth family member of their home. Mommy, Daddy, Ava and Blankie. Blankie was a precious gift from Auntie Thea, and everything Auntie Thea buys is wonderful. Blankie goes everywhere that two-year-old Ava goes. Blankie sometimes makes the occasional trip to the bath too. Blankie is there at naptime, at bedtime, at playtime, at breakfast time, and Blankie, sadly, turns out to be as vulnerable as the rest of them.

Blankie is a knitted blanket with silk edges in soft green and is very susceptible to getting caught on things like door handles and tearing.

Right down the middle.

Daddy sees this is as it is Blankie’s time to depart, and when it comes to naptime she asks for Blankie and he says the two words that break her heart.

“No Blankie.”

She wails.

She wails and she screams and she doesn’t want her favourite person in the world.

She goes down for her nap kicking and screaming, and Felicity leads him from her bedroom with a tug on his hand and he looks defeated as they stand in the hall. He sags against it, running his hands over his head. “What was I supposed to do?” he asks in frustration. “It’s broken, Felicity, we can’t fix it, it’ll unravel everywhere and then she’ll cry again-”

She cuts him off with a simple touch of her hand against his chest. “No, we can’t fix it.”

“She didn’t want me,” he mumbles, and that’s really what hurt the most because it’s not really about the toy, is it? Daddy said no to her, and Daddy never says no to her. Never.

“She loves you, Oliver,” Felicity assures him, and he shakes his head.

“She pushed me away.”

“She’s just upset and overtired,” she points out. “So, let’s make it better when she wakes up, shall we?” she suggests.

“What, have you got a Blankie replica lying around?”

“Oliver, it’s time to learn about the Magic Laundry Powder.”

–

She does have a Blankie replica lying around, turns out.

–

“Ava…”

His grumpy toddler opens her eyes, looks at him and reaches immediately for Mommy.

He tries not to look too hurt.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Felicity strokes her unruly hair before smothering her in the good-morning post-nap kisses she adores. She smiles a little, at least, but the scowl returns quickly. “Do you want to see some magic?”

“Magic?” she repeats the word slowly.

“Daddy’s going to fix Blankie with magic, aren’t you, Daddy?”

Ava looks at him curiously, scowling as she twists her hair in her own hand, tilting her head in that adorable way her mother does when she doesn’t quite believe him either. “Daddy magic?”

Daddy isn’t magic. Daddy’s just going to use some tricks that Gramma Smoak taught Mommy and he never, ever thought he’d admit that even to himself.

He holds up the broken halves of Blankie, and she squeals and reaches for it, but realises that it is, in fact, broken. It doesn’t feel the same anymore and that brings a look of sadness across her still-tired face. “Come on,” he coaxes her into his arms. “Let’s fix Blankie.”

“Fix Blankie,” she repeats, but goes to Felicity’s arms instead.

Together, the three of them go to the utility room, where their plan is already set up. A brand new green knitted blanket with silk edges is already in the dryer, and they lift the lid of the dryer and Felicity gets Ava to put the broken Blankie inside it. He still has his doubts about this working, but Felicity is adamant and keeps talking up Ava to Daddy’s magic and he knows that she’s doing this just as much for him as she is for their little girl.

It’s a lot harder on him to fail her than it is to fail the city.

Felicity, much to his minor embarrassment, makes him say some magic words and sprinkle the magic fairy dust into the dryer (it’s just normal scented powder) and then they sit back for ten minutes opposite the dryer.

And they wait for the magic.

Ava looks at Felicity the entire time she talks about magic. She doesn’t look at Oliver once. When the dryer finally dulls into silence for the completed cycle, Felicity gives a loud gasp. “Ava, it’s ready,” she teased her. “Time to go to Daddy.”

“No Daddy,” she shook her head, curling closer into Felicity.

“It only works with Daddy,” she tells her, placing her into Oliver’s arms without any further room for argument.

Oliver carries her to the dryer, lifting the lid and she looks inside. “Blankie?” she asks in a tiny, longing whisper.

He reaches in, careful to take the brand new, undamaged blanket out of the dryer, and with a dramatic sound he slowly pulls Blankie 2.0 out of the dryer.

Ava squeals and reaches for it, crushing it against her face with a grin that is sheer happiness. Oliver waits for her to complain that Blankie smells different or feels different, but she doesn’t, she just presses her magically fixed Blankie against her shining cheeks and looks up at Oliver with a far more worshipping expression on her face. “Daddy fix Blankie,” she giggled and rubbed the soft wool against his face.

He smiles at his precious daughter, kissing her forehead as he meets Felicity’s eyes over her head. “Thank you,” he whispers to her.

She just winks at him, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Go take her to play,” she tells him. “I have to take care of Original Blankie before she finds that too,” she points out, and that will definitely lead to disaster and a mountain of trust issues that can’t be rebuilt with Magic Laundry Powder.

But his daughter is smiling in his arms, rubbing their faces with her blanket as if that solidifies her love for him, and it does.

As he leads her into the living room, she holds onto his neck, Blankie crushed between them as she kisses his cheek.

“Fank ooooo, Daddy,” she whispers.

“You’re welcome, baby girl,” he kisses her back.

God, he loves his girls.


	11. Stay at Home Dad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sologirl00 said:  
> Ava!Prompt: When Ava starts to crawl she likes to hide under her crib and Oliver and Felicity like to make an act about finding her because once they do she giggles and screams in happiness.
> 
> Anonymous said:  
> Alright here’s an Ava prompt: Felicity must go back to work after maternity leave but she’s heartbroken at the idea of leaving her little baby, even if she’s with Oliver :)

_**Received: 1 SMS from Oliver “Hubby” Queen** _

_Come upstairs to Ava’s room when you get home. Be quiet. This will make your day._

The message had pre-warned her of something essentially cute. After a long day at the office, Felicity was all geared up for the sight of her beautiful daughter doing something extremely cute because it had been a seriously long and painfully exhausting day.

Going back to work had been essential for her, but a challenge. Her priorities had shifted now, and Ava was the centre of everything. Oliver was the stay at home parent in their relationship, enabling her to return full time as CEO, but when she’d walked out of the door that morning for the first time since her maternity leave ended, she’d needed to stop ten minutes away from the Queen Incorporated building and have a cry in her car for reasons she wasn’t sure of still.

Her body had ached all day, because she couldn’t see her baby.

Lunch time rolled around and there was no need for her to mush up snacks. No relaxation hour during the mid-afternoon when her daughter napped. No smiling face. No laughter. No horrific but somehow endearing diaper accidents.

It was surprising how much better Ava made every day life, even when she was misbehaving.

She also worried about Oliver being at home with her. She didn’t doubt his parenting for a moment, but taking on the role of stay-at-home dad would limit him. No rushing out as the Arrow for emergencies, not while he was ‘on duty’ with the baby, but when Felicity had confessed that she did miss working, he’d been more than enthusiastic about making this possible for her.

That, and he absolutely loved their daughter more than anything in the world, and he wanted to spend every waking second dedicating every part of himself to her.

So she’d headed upstairs to find this cute occurrence and found them both in Ava’s nursery. She loved this room, with its lilac walls and comfortable furnishings. Everything about this room spoke of softness and peace. Today, Oliver was sat on the floor with his back to the crib, playing on his cell phone and looking up at her with the most amused grin when she walked in and he pressed a finger to his lips. He nudged his head downstairs to where she could see only a diaper and a pair of legs sticking out from underneath the crib.

She raised a curious eyebrow, and Oliver spoke in that tone he only reserved for Ava.

“Uh oh, Mommy’s home and we can’t find Ava.”

There was a giggle from underneath the crib, and the legs she could see sticking out where bouncing slightly.

“Oh no, Daddy’s gonna be in so much trouble,” he repeated.

More giggles.

“I just can’t find Ava anywhere!” he said in mock frustration.

The giggles this time were shrill and infectious, and Felicity bit her lip to keep from laughing too loudly. That laughter completed everything that went wrong in her day, and she moved to mirror Oliver’s position on the other side of Ava’s ‘hidden’ legs.

“Where could Ava be?” Oliver asked. “Maybe she’s in the bath.”

Giggles.

“No, she’s not there. Maybe she’s in the dresser drawers?”

Giggles.

“Maybe she’s in Daddy’s car.”

Giggles.

“Or mayyyyybe,” he teased, and she giggled once before stopping in anticipation, and he closed his hand around her ankle, scooping her out from underneath the crib. He dangled her upside down in front of him and this laughter was uncontrollable. She laughed straight from her stomach, pure delight in this tiny child. “There she is!”

He set her back down to let her rush into the arms of the mother that she’d missed all day. Now she was crawling it was easy for her to get around herself, but also, as Oliver was finding, easy for her to try and hide from them.

“Hey, baby girl,” Felicity cooed. “I missed you so much!”

“She’s been good as gold,” Oliver assured her. “Minor tantrum at naptime because she missed you but I got her down and she was fine.” She liked hearing that, that her baby had missed her too.

“So that looked like a fun new game?” She smiled, as Oliver’s greeting kiss landed on her cheek at last.

“We have played that for the last four hours,” Oliver said bluntly. “I get the feeling we’ll be playing it all tomorrow too.”

“The joys of the stay at home father,” she teased.

“As long as she keeps laughing like that, I’d wear a hula outfit every day,” he insisted. Felicity gasped and went to speak but he cut her off. “No repeats of last Halloween.”

“But it’s Ava’s first Halloween…”

“It’s still a no,” he insisted. “Stay at home Dad has spoken.”

“True,” she mused, standing her daughter up in her lap and balancing her with her hands so she could press a sloppy kiss on her cheek. “But mommy’s the boss.”


	12. No Running In The House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1022bridgetp said:
> 
> After reading Daddy’s Little Girl I need a sibling fic with these two!! I don’t know if you take prompts but I hope I got you an idea :) Maybe Ava always wakes up when Tommy cries in the middle of the night and she tries to cheer him up or on Tommy’s wedding day she tells embarrassing stories about his childhood. I’d love to read about them anything!

Tiny feet padded through the hall quickly, dodging catering staff carrying trays of food through to the dining room. Ava was light on her feet, something that drove Mommy insane when they were at the grocery store because she could disappear real quickly but Mommy and Daddy got mad when she did that so she had to promise to hold onto the cart or onto Daddy’s hand and if she was good then she got a treat afterwards.

Tonight Mommy and Daddy were having a fancy party where she got to wear a pretty dress. She liked those parties. She was seven years old now, so she was allowed to stay up for an hour after Tommy went to bed and was allowed to hold Daddy’s hand and he’d introduce her as the most important little girl in the world. It was a very important job that she had. Mommy was the CEO of Queen Incorporated, and Daddy was the Mayor, so she had to make sure that everyone that came to see them at the party was nice enough to be their friend.

They were all very nice to her. And they always complimented her dress.

She was supposed to be in the den or in her bedroom where she wouldn’t get in the way of the party setting up, but she had now ended up doing two things that she absolutely wasn’t ever allowed to do in the house. Number one, running in the house, and number two, disobeying her parents. Auntie Thea had already reminded her not to run indoors, but Ava was a girl on a mission and she didn’t stop running until she ran straight into something hard.

She fell back on her behind and looked up to see what she’d run into, seeing Daddy looking down at her. “Hi Daddy,” she grinned.

He gave her a little sigh. “Ava, what have I told you about running in the house?” he asked her in that tired Daddy voice. Daddy was tired a lot lately.

She climbed to her feet with the help of his arm. “Sorry, Daddy.”

“Does ‘sorry’ explain why you’re running?” he asked her.

“No, Daddy.”

“I really need you to go be good today, Ava,” he reminded her, and she nodded. “This is a big night for Mommy, we need everything to be special for her.”

“I was trying to find Tommy,” she explained.

Tommy had learned to crawl now, and that meant that her little brother decided to follow her everywhere. Ava loved it, because he was like her shadow and it meant she got to show him everything. Daddy liked it because it meant they were both easy to find. But she’d been playing with her new doll that Uncle Digg brought for her birthday, and she hadn’t seen him disappear from her side.

“Is he getting himself into trouble again?” Daddy asked.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen him for a whole five minutes,” she told him exasperatedly. Daddy clearly didn’t know how hard it was to keep track of Tommy because it was really hard and she usually did it really well but he was getting a lot faster.

“He was with your Aunt Thea earlier, have you asked her?”

She nodded, her light brown hair bouncing on her shoulders. “She said to ask Mommy but I can’t find her either.”

“Mommy’s gone to pick up your dresses for tonight, she’ll be back in a while,” Daddy told her, and she was almost distracted by the excitement of looking for her dress.

Then Daddy smiled, and leaned down to give her a knowing smile. “I think your search is over, sweetheart.”

She raised her eyebrows, looking around her but not seeing her brother anywhere.

“Look down,” Daddy whispered.

She did, and saw Tommy sitting at her feet right beside her, staring up at her his wide blue eyes and a smile on his baby lips. He took hold of Ava’s ankle and held onto it tightly as if he’d found his prize. “Tommy found me instead!” she exclaimed with a giggle.

“He certainly did,” Daddy said, stroking Tommy’s hair.

“He found me because I’m his sister, and he knows what that means,” she said proudly.

“And what does that mean?” Daddy asked.

Ava smiled down at Tommy, who giggled up at his sister, and then she looked back at Daddy. “He knows I’ll always look after him,” she announced.

Daddy gave her that smile he gave Mommy sometimes when she was dressing up pretty and he thought no one was watching him, and then he kissed her forehead. She liked it when he did that because he once told her it was a special kiss he saved for his favourite girls. “I love you,” he told her, and she replied because she loved her Daddy most of all anyone except she loves Tommy and Mommy the same amount. “Go play nicely, okay?” he told her, and she nodded.

“Come on, Tommy,” she said, beckoning him to follow her like he was more a puppy than a brother. “Auntie Lyla’s got candy.”


	13. What's That Smell?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sinceriouslymelodiful-09 said:
> 
> Hellooooo :) How about something funny, fluffy and cute. Tommy/Ava have abit of a diaper accident all over their daddy/mommy. Maybe throw in abit of throw up lol. I mean- if your kid hasn’t pooped or puked on you, can you even call yourself a parent!? Haha… Thanks! :D
> 
> Note: Doing this as a dialogue fic, because I picture this being overheard through a door by Diggle or someone else XD

“Oliver, It’s your turn.”

“It’s your turn.”

“I did it this morning.”

“So did I.”

“It’s not my fault your son poops so many times a day.”

“Please, don’t make me do this.”

“You’re doing it, it’s your turn.”

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too, but it’s still your turn.”

“If you really loved me, you wouldn’t make me do this.”

“That’s not fair!”

“I really, really, can’t do this. I mean, have you smelt that?”

“Yes! That’s how I know he needs changing…”

“But the smell…”

“It’s poop, Oliver. Everybody poops. You poop, I poop, Ava poops, and now Tommy poops. He poops a lot.”

“Nothing Ava did ever smelt like that.”

“Well, clearly your genetics got a bit defective after the first kid.”

“My genetics?”

“Please, just take him.”

“Fine, but can you stay in the room, at least? I don’t want to be alone with the smell.”

“I can tell, because sometimes you leave the bathroom door open and–”

“Do we have to talk about that right now?”

“We need to talk about it some time, because there are some levels of sharing that a couple just doesn’t need.”

“Can you pass me the wipes? Thank you.”

“Oh god, the smell’s getting worse.”

“That can’t be normal. What are we feeding him?”

“Breast milk.”

“What are we feeding _you_?”

“That’s not funny.”

“Nothing about this is funny. He’s…oh God.”

“Oh my god.”

“I can’t do this.”

“Oliver, don’t let him go! He’ll roll off!”

“Because he wants to get away from the smell.”

“Okay, let me get more wipes.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“We need more wipes, half a pack is not enough.”

“Get another sleep suit too.”

“What’s wrong with the…? Is that all over his legs?”

“And halfway up his back.”

“What kind of baby yoga is he doing?”

“These diapers are supposed to be secure for wriggling!”

“Okay, you know what, let’s just put him in the tub.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes! Wipes aren’t going to be enough. One of us can hold him over the bathtub and the other one can hose him off with the shower head.”

“Hose him off?”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“Are we allowed to just hose off our baby?”

“I repeat, do you have any better ideas?”

“Well, no, but-”

“Then come on.”

“You want me to carry out shit-covered son through the house?”

“Well I’m not going to do….oh.”

“Oh, what?”

“He’s not…done.”

“What do you….oh god.”

“Oh, no…”

“Did he just…”

“Okay, stay calm…”

“Did the baby just shit on me?”

“I said stay calm!”

“He just shit on me!”

“Don’t swear in front of him!”

“Please, take him. I need to go burn this shirt.”

“Not until he’s clean, come on, bathroom.”

“I have baby shit on my shirt!”

“And your socks.”

“What?”

“And someone’s going to need to clean it off the carpet.”

“Felicity!”


	14. Frack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aussieforgood said:
> 
> Dialogue prompt: Ava’s first word is frack

_“Frack.”_

“What was that?”

“Did she just?”

“No, she can’t have.”

“She wouldn’t-”

“It was just gas.”

“Yeah, gas. It had to be.”

“It’s not like she would have actually said frack.”

_“Frack.”_

“Oh god.”

“That wasn’t gas.”

“Where she did even learn that?”

“Obviously from you.”

“What?”

“That’s your word.”

“It’s not my word, it’s just a word.”

“That you say a lot.”

“I don’t say it that much.”

“Clearly you do, because I’ve been doing some pretty intense training for ‘dada’ and she comes right in there with –”

_“Frack.”_

“See. I rest my case.”

“Oh my god. I can’t believe this is her first word.”

“I really thought it’d be ‘dada’.”

“Why? I’ve been waking her up at night to practice ‘mama’.”

“What?”

“Nothing. I absolutely did not ever do that. Ever.”

“Felicity…”

“She was already awake. We were just practicing.”

“What if she says this in public?”

“Oh god, the press conference is tomorrow.”

“We can’t take her, Felicity.”

“We have to! It’s supposed to be a family statement.”

“What if she says it in front of everyone?”

“Then we laugh and tell them it’s gas.”

“It’s not gas!”

“They don’t know that.”


	15. We're The Assholes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sickandtwisteddoc said:
> 
> First time Ava on a plane

“Everyone’s staring at us.”

“Nobody’s staring at us.”

“We just brought a baby on to a plane, everyone is staring at us.”

“We’re in first class.”

“Being stared at.”

“Felicity…I offered to take the private jet.”

“We can’t take it everywhere, Oliver!”

“Look, no one is staring, and Ava’s fast asleep she’s not—”

“Now look, you woke her up!”

“She woke up all on her own.”

“Because she knew you were talking about her.”

“You were talking about her too.”

“Yeah, but you too are in cahoots or something-”

“Cahoots?”

“Really? You’re going to question my word choices? Right now?”

“Felicity, will you relax? Everything’s going to be fine. We’re only going to be in the air for two hours.”

“Sure, when we’re in the air it’s ‘only’ two hours, but when we’ve been up all night with her it’s a ‘whole’ two hours…”

“Just sit down, I’ll hold her and keep her occupied and you can relax.”

“How can I relax? We’re the assholes who bought a baby onto a plane!”

“Well, it was too far to drive.”

“Oliver…”

“It’s going to be fine, trust me.”

“Those two words have gotten me into a lot of trouble?”

“Trust me?”

“ _Trust me_ , we have plenty of diapers left. _Trust me_ , we’re going to get a full night of sleep tonight. _Trust me_ , we can risk not using a condom just this once…”

“Okay, not people are staring at us.”

“See!”

“Because you’re talking about birth control on a plane.”

“Did you see the amount of young couples we passed on our way in? Watching a couple like us have to bring a baby on a plane is going to be their birth control.”

_“Any drinks for you, sir?”_

_“Yes, my wife will have a very large vodka.”_

“I heard that.”

“You were supposed to.”


	16. Oliver Queen: Dragon Slayer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Promt: various people reacting to Olivers scars.

“That one’s from a shark.”

“Nuh uh, it’s from a dinosaur!”

“Don’t be silly, Tommy!”

Oliver bit his lip, trying desperately not to laugh.

He was sat cross legged on the living room floor, his shirt off and being utterly surrounded by his two children. They’re circling him, exploring his torso with an almost frightening scrutiny, tiny, innocent hands skimming over his marred skin.

“What’s that one from then?”

“That’s from the dragon.”

A small snicker escaped him, and he was really trying hard now not to burst into happy laughter.

His children, at six and four years old, had recently become very aware of his scars. Incredibly aware and oddly fascinated. He’d been worried at first when Tommy had asked him what the mark on his chest was when they were in the pool, but then the game had started.

Where did Daddy’s scars come from?

He was supposed to be getting ready for dinner, he knew, and Felicity would be down any minute in a gorgeous dress, but he couldn’t bear to move. How could he? With their small hands and wild stories, his children were healing parts of him that had started to soften with Felicity’s touches so many years before.

“When did Daddy meet a dragon?”

“He didn’t mean it, he slayed it!” Ava said dramatically, swinging her arm like a sword. “He was a big hero and he saved the city from the mean old dragon.”

Tommy, as always, gaped up at his elder sister as if she held the key to the world.

Oliver’s eyes flickered up at the sound of movement, and he watched his wife - his beautiful, beautiful wife - ascent the stairs in an ocean blue gown. He raked his eyes across her form with a warm smile, but it was lost in the sheer joy that radiated from him. She raised a questioning eyebrow, but he held a finger to his lips to tell her to keep quiet while the kids moved from his back to his shoulder.

“What about this one?” Tommy asked.

“That was Robocop.”

“Nuh-uh, Robocop’s not real.”

“Not any more, because Daddy broke him.”

Tommy went quiet, then nodded firmly. “Daddy breaks lots of computer things.”

“Hey,” Oliver protested, but Ava just tilted her head at him - damn, her mother’s eyes - and he shook his head, laughing softly as he met Felicity’s gaze while she approached them.

“What about this one?”

“That’s uh…”

Despite the clear expense of the dress, Felicity sat down on her knees at Oliver’s side, tracing her fingertips over the scar they were currently expecting. “This one is definitely from the spaceship that crashed,” she told them. “When Daddy survived and he defeated the evil alien race.”

Tommy flopped down into her lap, and Oliver’s eyes danced with delight when they carried on this game together. These crazy-ass incredible people are his family, he realised.

“What about this one?” Ava asked, her finger now tracing marks on his left shoulder that were intricate and delicate in nature. Oliver fell silent, but Felicity hummed lightly, joining her fingers with Ava’s and repeating the pattern.

“You know what this one means?”

“That’s an A for Ava,” she grinned.

“And what’s this one, little man?” she asked Tommy, bringing his hand up as well.

“T for Tommy,” he said proudly.

“And who knows what this one means?”

“F for Fl…Fe…Fe-li-ci-ty,” Ava sounded it out slowly. “Which means Mommy.”

Oliver’s eyes misted over, and he was glad they’re all focused on his painted skin than anything else. His smile was uncontainable, because this is his family. Oliver Queen has a family who adores him, who love him, who sees the broken parts of him and sees him as a dragon slayer, not a killer. One day, when they’re older, he’ll tell them about his days as the Arrow and he couldn’t wait to see their reactions based on this particular game they adore.

Having Shado’s tattoo removed was a big step for him. While he carried the mental reminder of her suffering and his part in that every single day, he didn’t need the physical reminder of his fling with another woman when he’d married the love of his life. He’d had it removed a year after they got married, and had it replaced the year after that with the F pattern which stood for her name, for her presence at his side, shoulder to shoulder.

When Ava was born, he’d had the A added the day after they brought her home from the hospital. The bottom of the F curled into the tail end of the A, and later looped into the tip of the T, and he realised that where he’d once carried the reminder of Shado’s death, he now carried a totem of his family’s initials. Last year, after a drunken conversation with Thea that made him realise he’d essentially tattooed the word ‘fat’ into his shoulder, he’d had their full names written in Russian beside each initial.

He turned his head slightly, watching the tender captivation on his family’s faces as they traced their initials. “So what does this mean?” Felicity asked them.

“Daddy loves us,” Tommy said softly.

“That Daddy has us with him all of the time wherever he is,” Ava continued.

“Always,” Oliver whispered, looking over his shoulder at them, turning at their smiles and gathering Ava into his lap the same way Tommy had settled into Felicity’s. He kissed his daughter’s head with an exaggerated ‘mwah’, and she giggled in his embrace. “You two need to put your pyjamas on ready for Aunt Thea,” he told them. “Because Mommy’s wearing a very, very pretty dress and Daddy needs to take her for dinner.”

Felicity stood up, Tommy clinging to her hip. “And Daddy needs to put a shirt on, or we’ll never make it out of the house,” she said with a small wink.

Oliver raised his eyebrows at her, she was rarely so bold when the kids were around, but Ava was that gave him a pointed look. “Yeah, Daddy. You need to put the rest of your clothes on now or you’ll be too cold to go out.”

“Oh yeah, can’t be cold,” he laughed, meeting Felicity’s eyes with a look that was anything but cold, and he stood up, holding Ava under her arm as she squealed until he placed her down. “Go on, pyjamas,” he told her again. “Or I’ll tell Aunt Thea there’s no ice cream tonight.”


	17. Compromised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Can you do one shot with Felicity and Ava kidnapped, and Oliver as the arrow coming to rescue them?

This is not the Arrow.

Even the shadows cower from him as he moves through the city, his eyes darker than any cloaks they can shed on it’s corners. This is not the Arrow who has hidden within them, restoring them to their rightful place in the depths of night. This is not the Arrow who has concealed the true darkness into the places light cannot touch.

This is not the Vigilante.

This is not a man who bargains for the good of others. He is not here to do good, he is not on a mission for justice. He is only here for one purpose; his own, and those who understand what it is to experience fear will not stand in his way. Who could attempt to hold back the man who controls the movement of shadows?

This is not the Hood.

This is not a man who hides his identity. His identity was compromised before he shed his other self and donned his leathers that night, but he is no less feared. He is more so. This is the heart of a man in the body of a ruthless killer, and the heart of a man is a very dangerous thing when you take it from his chest still beating and squeeze his lifeforce to the ground.

This is not the Bratva Captain.

This is not a man who will trade you the world in exchange for your skills. This is not a man who will offer protection in the form of assassination, theft and debauchery. This is not a hired gun who will take a life if the price is right.

Tonight he is none of these men.

He is Oliver Queen.

He is the man behind the mask, the night stalking fox beneath the hood, but there is no boot polish concealing his eyes tonight, no need to accentuate the darkness that bores from the pit of his blue orbs when it could already tempt the sweetest soul into betraying their innocence away.

This is a man who has killed for the woman he loved. He has taken a life at the mere threat to hers, and he will not hesitate to do that again. This is a man who has made enemies crumble, legacies shatter, and he will not be leaving tonight without satisfaction.

This is a man who will end lives tonight. Without mercy.

Because he is Oliver Queen.

He presses the tip of his arrow ever so slightly against the throb of a jugular. It is is favourite artery to slash, because it is over so quickly, and he doesn’t like to create a mess. Besides, this man before him doesn’t deserve the opportunity to make peace with his passing, and his death will be swift for that. He indents the sharpened tip against the skin just enough that the blood rushes to the skin, a pin prick of a slaughtered warning.

“I will ask you one last time, and then you will die,” he says calmly.

The man shudders.

“Where. Is. My. Family?”

–

This is not Mayor Queen.

This is not a man who runs his city with the same reckless perfection that he runs his car. This is a man who expertly guides his family into the back of the car his friend drives them home with. This is a man who cradles his daughter into his lap while she trembles and clings to him. This is a man who embraces his wife into his side as she cements herself and their daughter into the arms of the man who came for them.

This is not fun Uncle Ollie.

He will not spend his evening telling stories to his godchildren and his new nephew in all the voices they desire. He will not play games or sing songs. He will hold the same responsibility but he will not be doing so for the source of amusement.

This is Oliver Queen.

He will not tease his wife when she grumbles awake in the morning, searching for coffee before her glasses are even on. He will not ravish her in the shower in the blissful moments before their daughter wakes. He will not be these men. But the day after, he will. Tonight he will watch over them while they sleep. Tomorrow he will cook them breakfast, embrace a day of favourites because these are his girls and he will spoil them as long as there is breath in his body. He lives for their smiles and they were almost lost to him tonight.

This is Daddy.

This is Husband of Mine.

This is who he is when the hood comes down.


	18. Goodnight, I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Ava trying to be like Felicity when she’s away after she gets her first pair of glasses, with lots of cuteness and Oliver sending picture messages. She decides that she’s ready for them to have another baby and she tells him that she wants to try for another one.
> 
> sologirl00 said: Can I interest you in an Ava!Prompt?? Ava wearing Felicity’s lipstick because she wanted to look as pretty as her mommy

The first picture comes on her first night in Gotham. It’s Ava trying on her school uniform ready for the expensive kindergarten they’re sending her to, and it sends her a pang of loneliness that she’s not there for it. She texts her reply that it fits her perfectly but don’t forget to get one in the next two sizes up because she’s going to grow quickly.

The second picture is one of her completely swamped by a uniform that’s four sizes too big for her, looking in horror at the camera, and Felicity laughs as she shuts off the light and goes to sleep.

The next day, she gets almost hourly updates of their newest hurdle - glasses. Ava wasn’t all that thrilled about getting them because she didn’t want to be teased, but Oliver’s determined to make her adore the glasses and Felicity even tried switching back to her glasses more than her contacts for a while, but it didn’t seem to be working.

Around dinnertime she gets a picture of Ava wearing her big bathrobe, the one that Oliver wraps her in and calls her his burrito baby, and a few things that definitely don’t belong to her. Namely, the lipstick. But also her glasses.

A text from Oliver follows a few moments later with the caption of: “it was easy, she just wanted to be beautiful like mommy”.

Another second passes and her phone beeps again. “Sorry in advance about the lipstick.”

She chuckles, but she’s drawn into her evening meeting before she can reply.

When she eventually makes it back to the hotel room, it’s empty and she feels even more so. There’s something unsettling about the amount of time she has to spend away from her husband and daughter on company work and it’s getting harder every time. She misses Ava a little more, misses another milestone, and she can’t bear to think of her family so incomplete with them separate.

When she makes it back, she’s just about to reply to the mass of messages from Oliver, all photographs of their growing soon-to-be pre-schooler, but another comes through before she can hit send.

She swears her heart never burst the way it did, not even when she held Ava for the first time.

Her little girl is curled up in the centre of her and Oliver’s bed, her own pink pillow from her room jammed between theirs, her little hand firmly gripping the pillowcase that Felicity usually sleeps on. Her glasses are still on, askew, the lipstick is gone but her lips have a resonating deeper pink tone from wiping it off and her dark blonde hair is curled madly around her shoulders. The infant version of a tablet she’s been learning to count with is tucked under her arm. She’s fast asleep, but not any less wound around the space her mother should fill, and the caption comes through a moment later.

“Had fun with Daddy today, but Mommy is always my favourite”.

She doesn’t even think about responding, she just hits the call icon in the top corner of the message and waits for Oliver to reply. His whisper of “hey” is soft enough that she knows he’s still in the bedroom with her.

“Hey,” she replies, her voice more emotional that she thought it’d be back.

“How’s Gotham?” he asks.

“It’s not home,” she sighs, and then she wets her lips and clears her throat. “So, I’ve been thinking.”

“Good thinking?”

“I think this is my last work trip. I think I want to try the stay-at-home-mom thing for a while.”

Oliver’s quiet for a moment, then she can hear the teasing smile in his voice when he response. “You’re gonna tag me out on the home-parenting just when she’s starting school?” he muses.

“Well,” she says slowly. “What if there was…someone else home with us?” she asks hesitantly.

He goes silent again for a very long minute. “Felicity?”

“You sent me that picture and God, I just want a hundred copies of her,” she rushes out breathlessly, her heart aching so badly for her daughter that she finds herself rubbing her stomach in the nostalgic way that reminded her of when her baby girl was still inside her. “I know we kinda talked about it, but…what do you think? Is now a good time?”

His reply is a long sigh, one of hope, one of excitement. “It’s always a good time to bring another you into the world,” he whispers.

“Oh, okay, so…great,” she replies, and what was she expecting? Of course he jumped at the suggestion. Oliver’s wanted another child since Ava started sleeping through the night and he missed having someone in the house who was actually on his sleep schedule.

“Great,” Oliver repeats, and she can hear his grin over the call. “So…you’re coming home tomorrow?”

“First thing,” she replies. “I think I’ll get up early, get a quicker flight out.”

“Let me know, I’ll pick you up,” he offers instantly. “Lyla’s taking the kids to the movies tomorrow and Ava’s told me she thinks I’ll hate the movie so she doesn’t want me to go. I think she just wants to sit next to Andy without me.”

“You do cramp her style, and she totally loves him,” Felicity mumbles.

“Any more of that talk about my daughter, Mrs. Queen, and you’ll be getting a cab home and there won’t be any celebratory baby making when you get home,” he threatens lightly, and she just chuckles back at him.

“I love you,” she laughs. “Kiss Ava goodnight from me?”

“Of course, I’ve got to put her back in her own bed soon.”

“Except you’re not going to, are you?” she realises.

“Not even going to try,” he whispers with a soft laugh. “Turns out you’ve made a cuddler out of me, can’t go sleeping alone.”

“Knew it’d wear in eventually,” she deadpans, checking the time. “Is that really how late it is?”

“Get some sleep, I’ll see you in the morning,” he tells her softly. “I love you, Felicity.”

“Goodnight, Oliver. I love you.”


	19. Origins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> myhauntedblacksoul said:
> 
> Hi dearie… Ive never done a ‘prompt thing’ before.. but if you are so kind, Can do a fic where Oliver x Felicity found out they were having a baby girl and how they chose the name Ava… PS (That name now holds a special name in my heart) ♥

To say they’re thrilled is an understatement. They’re having a baby girl, they found out this afternoon. It all feels real now.

“She’s really in here,” he breaths from his spot at her side.

Felicity’s hand skates over her lower stomach, right across the underside of her bump, and he’s sprawled on his front beside her, level with the rounded skin that houses his child - his daughter - and he nudges his nose against the side of her stomach, his lips following every few seconds. He’s been doing it for hours, ever since they found out she’ll be kicking soon - she! - and he doesn’t want to miss it.

“She’s going to need a name,” Felicity reminds him for the fifteenth time that day.

Names have had them stumped, but they’ve been talking about it since the day they found out they were pregnant, but it’s been easy for a boy. Their son was always going to be named Tommy and Robert, but their daughter? Felicity appreciates the sentiment but she instantly delegates Moira to middle-name status.

“I already found her name,” Oliver says with a slight bragging in his tone.

Felicity puts down the book she was holding, the bumper book of baby names that’s been glued to her free hand the last hour. “When?” she asks.

“Last night,” he tells her, placing another kiss against her swollen stomach. “I couldn’t sleep, so I started reading and found it.”

“Plan on sharing with…you know, the mother?” she said, as the hand now empty started carding through his short hair.

He hums, leaning into her touch before he returned his attentions to her stomach. “Hmm, it’s our secret,” he tells her.

“Ours?” she questions.

“Mine and hers,” he nodded at her stomach with a smile that makes her heart melt. “We talked it through last night and came to an understanding.”

“Is that so?” she asks teasingly. “A child of yours inheriting understanding? Hmm, she must get that from me.”

“Oh, I want her to inherit everything from you,” he insists, resting his chin on her stomach.

“Well, I think it’s only fair that you share with me,” Felicity points out, and his smile doesn’t drop.

“I bookmarked it for you,” he told her. “Pink highlighter, page thirteen.”

She looks at him curiously, then picks up the book again, flicking to the page. She falls silent as she brings her other hand back down to stroke at her stomach.

“What do you think?” he asks.

“What made you choose it?” she counters.

He peppers kisses up her stomach until he’s shuffled closer up to her lips. “I found your name in there. Felicity means happiness, did you know that?”

“I did,” she smiles, drawing him in for a kiss which he barely deepens before he pulls back.

“It made me think…you’re my happiness. But she…she is my everything.”

“Ava,” she recites, reading out the words that follow. “Latin origin, meaning ‘life’.”

“My happiness, and my life,” he tells her, his words soft as he breathes them over her lips.

“Ava Moira Queen,” she tests it out, her lips curved into a smile that his eyes match.

“It fits, right?” he nods.

“I think it’s perfect,” she said with a small gasp that floods her eyes. “And so does she.”

“What?” he blinks.

She fumbles for his hand, pressing it to the side of her stomach with a look of disappointment .”No, no, she stopped…she was doing it, she kicked.”

“She kicked?” Oliver said, scooting down the bed again until he was level with her stomach. This time he sits cross legged, his hands framing her curved stomach as he watches it with an intent hope. “Come on, baby girl, do it again. Do it for me.”

Felicity keeps pressing her hand to where she’d felt it before, poking her stomach to entice movement but she feels nothing. “She was right there, she was doing it…”

Oliver leaned over her stomach, pressing his lips just above her navel and mumbled. “Come on, Ava girl, do it for Daddy.”

And it happened.

A tiny force raises from beneath his lips, pressing up against them and his heart stops. It actually skips a beat.

“Did you feel that?” she asks with excitement as his hands brace her stomach, his lips pressing more firmly to the spot.

“Yeah,” he croaks out.

“Are you…crying?” she asks, tilting her head.

“Yeah,” he repeats, and she feels the dampness against her stomach. “My little girl just kicked  me, of course I’m crying.”

Her hand returns to his hair, watching this strong man, this vigilante, lean over her stomach and have this moment. The first interaction he’ll ever have with his daughter. Everything he’s ever needed right in the palm of his hands.

His Felicity, and his Ava.

His happiness, and his life.


	20. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Prompt: Ava’s first date.

“Oliver, will you stop staring at them?”

“I’m not staring at them.”

“You’re definitely staring at them, and they’re going to run off and hide together if they notice.”

“Don’t you think they’re sitting too close to each other?”

“…what are they going to do, Oliver? They’re seven years old.”

“What, you weren’t playing doctor at seven years old?”

“You were?”

“My point is, kids can’t be trusted.”

“You mean he can’t be trusted.”

“I thought you said Ava was having a friend over.”

“Danny is her friend.”

“He’s a boy.”

“Yes, he’s her friend and he’s a boy. Welcome to the future, Oliver, where girls and boys can be friends. We were friends once, if you remember?”

“I’ll have you know when we were friends I still spent a lot of time thinking about-”

“They’re seven, Oliver. He’s not staring at her like that.”

“He’s staring at her.”

“Of course he is, they’re having a staring contest…”

“He looks like he’s going to kiss her.”

“Really?”

“Felicity, can you please be on my side for this?”

“Don’t you think they’re cute together?”

“No, because this isn’t a youtube video of a dog and a cat being friends, this is our daughter and a boy she just introduced to me as her boyfriend.”

“So he is her boyfriend now?”

“Felicity, please.”

“Oliver, will you please relax?”

“How can I relax? She’s too young for a boyfriend.”

“And when is old enough for a boyfriend?”

“…fifty.”

“Okay, I thought the staring was ridiculous but this is just-”

“I am not being unreasonable.”

“You are being incredibly unreasonable.”

“She’s too young.”

“I highly doubt this is a serious boyfriend, Oliver.”

“You can’t assume that.”

“She’s seven and she doesn’t know what sex is yet. She still thinks the stork brings babies. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I have so many horror stories from my childhood I could tell you right now.”

“Please, don’t.”

“They’re educational.”

“They’re sordid sex stories and they’re nothing we should base our parenting skills off.”

“Well, our parenting skills should absolutely include getting this kid at least twenty feet away from my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“Yes, my precious, beautiful, perfect little girl.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“It’s funny, I definitely remember having my body literally ripped apart to bring your precious, beautiful, perfect little girl into the world. She’s at least 2% mine.”

“That is not the problem right now. The problem is my daughter-”

“-our daughter-”

“-having a goddamn date in our back yard.”

“It’s adorable.”

“It’s horrifying.”

“He’s so cute, look at him.”

“Yeah, I’m looking at him, alright.”

“Can you maybe drop the glare? He’s very obsessed with the Green Arrow and he might notice the similarities.”

“Good, then maybe he’ll realise how dangerous it is to date my daughter.”

“What are you going to do, Oliver? Threaten a seven year old?”

“If I have to.”

“Oliver!”

“He’s being a menace.”

“Yeah, we better ship him off to Lian Yu to learn some respect and how to be a real man.”

“Are you mocking me right now?”

“Yes.”

“I’m cancelling date night.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I am. If she gets to date, then you don’t.”

“We’re married, you can’t just refuse to date me.”

“Watch me.”

“It’s cute that you think this defiance is working, but you’re forgetting what I can withhold from you.”

“…that’s not fair.”

“Give me back date night and you can have the happy ending after it.”

“I can’t tell if you’re the best wife ever or the worst wife.”

“You can decide after you’ve eaten the dinner I’m making.”

“Oh…can’t we go to a restaurant or something?”

“That’s a great idea. I’m sure Danny’s mom would love to babysit Ava. I mean the kids are having so much fun, they could have a sleepover, Ava would be so excited-”

“So, what are you cooking tonight?”


	21. I Can Be Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Ava tells Oliver she wants to be a Minion when she grows up.

“Daddy!”

“Hey, sweetheart. Did you have a good day at school?

“Uh huh.”

“What did you learn today?”

“I learned about minions.”

“…from your teacher?”

“No, from Andy Diggle.”

“I see. And what did you learn about minions?”

“That I want to be one.”

“You want to be one?”

“When I grow up.”

“I thought you wanted to be a doctor?”

“Yeah, but minions are cooler.”

“What do they do?”

“They serve an evil master.”

“…right.”

“The most evil master of all.”

“I’d…really rather you don’t serve an evil master, honey.”

“But I think I’d be really good at it.”

“But you’re not evil.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you’re a really good girl.”

“No, I can evil.”

“No one should be evil.”

“I told Andy Diggle that his hair was bad.”

“Well, that wasn’t very nice, was it?”

“Exactly. I can be evil.”

“And when we get home you’re going to call your Uncle John, and you’re going to ask to speak to Andy and then you’re going to apologise to him.”

“But Daddy, minions don’t say sorry.”

“You’re not a minion yet.”


	22. Where Do Babies Come From?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aussieforgood said:
> 
> Dialogue prompt: Ava wants to know where babies come from.

“Mommy, where do babies come from?”

“Umm…why do you ask?”

“Because Jenny Morris in my class got a new baby brother, and I don’t know where she got it from.”

“Well, Jenny’s mom and dad would have brought him home.”

“But where from?”

“The hospital.”

“Why the hospital?”

“Because that’s where women go when it’s time to have their babies.”

“They come out of all Mommy’s?”

“Yeah, every baby is born from a Mommy.”

“Why don’t they come out of Daddy’s?”

“Do you remember when we talked about boy parts and girl parts?”

“I don’t have a penis.”

“That’s right, you don’t. But Daddy’s can’t have babies because they have a penis instead.”

“But where does the baby come out from?”

“Well, sometimes they come from our girl parts, and sometimes the doctors make a cut in your tummy called a c-section and take the baby out.”

“C comes after A and B.”

“It does.”

“Is there an A-section and a B-section?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not really named like that, honey.”

“So where did I come from?”

“You came from a c-section, because you were stubborn and you didn’t want to come out on your own.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re stubborn like your Daddy.”

“So how did I get into your tummy?”

“You grew there.”

“But grew from what?”

“Love.”

“That sounds wrong.”

“It’s not wrong, Ava. Mommy and Daddy love each other very much, and when you’ve been in love for long enough then a baby grows.”

“Then how come Uncle Roy said I was an accident?”

“When did he say that?”

“He said it to Auntie Thea when he didn’t think I was listening because I was hiding in the closet pretending to be a spy.”

“…right.”

“So how did I really get into your tummy?”

“Daddy planted some baby seeds.”

“Daddy did it?”

“Yep. Daddy planted the baby seeds and then Mommy grew you, and then you were born.”

“So it’s all Daddy’s fault.”

“Yep.”

“So is it Daddy’s fault if I get a baby brother.”

“Completely Daddy’s fault.”

“Can we grow a baby sister instead?”

“Why do we need to grow another baby if we already have you?”

“Because I need lots of people to play with.”

“Honey, are you lonely?”

“If I say yes can I get a baby sister?”

“No, because that’s up to me and Daddy.”

“But we can go to the store and get some baby seeds and-”

“You can’t buy baby seeds at the store, sweetheart.”

“Why not? We got the flower seeds from the store.”

“Because Daddy has to make the seeds.”

“How does he make them?”

“With his boy parts.”

“Daddy makes seeds from his penis?”

“…yes.

“But how can I be a girl if I was made from boy parts?”

“Ava, maybe we should wait for Daddy to come home to ask any more questions…”

“Why?”

“Because I’m really not explaining this very well.”

“But you’re really smart, Mommy.”

“Thank you, baby.”

“So you really should know where babies come from by now.”

“Oh, look! Daddy’s home!”


	23. Santa's Little Helpers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Dialogue prompt: “Daddy, what are you and mommy doing?” “Oh Ava…. You woke up!…”

“Daddy, what are you and Mommy doing?”

“Oh, Ava!”

“What are you doing?”

“When did you wake up, baby girl?”

“I heard noises, I thought Santa was here.”

“Not yet, sweetheart, he won’t come while you’re awake.”

“What are you and Mommy doing?”

“We’re just making sure everything’s ready for Santa, but you need to be asleep”

“What is Mommy doing with Santa’s cookies?”

“She’s making sure they taste just good enough for him?”

“But what about the milk for the reindeer? Where did it go?”

“It got too cool out on the table we’re about to pour him a fresh warm glass. Now, come on, back to–”

“Why does Mommy have lots of Christmas paper out?”

“She’s making sure Santa has everything he needs to wrap your gifts.”

“But why is Mommy doing it?”

“Santa’s elves are sick.”

“They can’t be sick at Christmas.”

“I know, but if you’re awake then no one can do their jobs.”

“Can I help?”

“No, you have to go back to bed.”

“But I want to see Santa.”

“He won’t come to our house if you’re awake.”

“But Daddy…”

“I don’t make the rules, sweetheart, Santa does.”

“Okay.”

“So we’re going to go back to bed like a good girl?”

“Yes.”

“And we’re not going to come out of our bedroom again?”

“No.”

“Okay, good girl. Sleep tight.”

“Night, Daddy.”

–

“Is she sleeping?”

“She thinks we’re helping Santa.”

“Oh god, we’re lying to her so much this year.”

“Well, she’s asking more questions this year.”

“Questioning Santa is not a question we’re ready for.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Okay, what’s left to do? Give me some gift wrap.”

“Okay, you take the Barbie dream house, I’m trying to finish up these dolls.”


	24. Pretty Please?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> inscreaminggcolours said:
> 
> Dialogue prompt: “Felicity, we are not putting Ava in dance class!” “Why? She would be so good at it and besides I always wanted to dance but we never had enough money.”

“No.”

“No?”

“We can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Felicity, we are not putting Ava in a dance class.”

“But why?”

“Because it’s a terrible idea.”

“No, it isn’t! She’d be so good at it, Oliver.”

“Do you realise how much she falls over?”

“But I always wanted to dance when I was her age and we could never afford it.”

“That’s about you, not about her.”

“She dances all the time, Oliver.”

“She also falls over. Her balance isn’t good enough, she’s clumsy.”

“She wants to be a ballerina.”

“That is…not a realistic life goal. I love her, but no.”

“You were the one who told her she could be whatever she wanted to be.”

“She was four when I said that, and she wanted to be a doctor.”

“Well now she’s five and she wants to be a ballerina.”

“Felicity-”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted her to have everything money could buy?”

“Yes, but-”

“Did you want to buy her a pony like the world’s biggest cliche?”

“Well, it-”

“She’d love it, Oliver, she really would. She’s asked three times this week and can you imagine what it would be like to be able to watch her recitals and see our little girl up there?”

“You can’t keep doing this to me.”

“Doing what?”

“Trying to win me over with cute ideas.”

“Is it working?”

“…yes?”

“So we can do the dance classes?”

“We?”

“Ava. Ava can do the dance classes?”

“Ava can do the dance classes.”

“You’re the best father in the world.”

“I better be.”


	25. Assholes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> felicitysmoakedit said: I saw a video of a dad dancing with his daughter in the kitchen, while cooking. Cutest thing I’ve ever seen! If you could write a fic where Felicity walks in on Oliver doing this with Ava, I’d die a thousand happy deaths & love you forever!

These are her assholes.

That is her asshole husband, doing the goofy and adorable good-dad thing he loves to do so much. That’s him with the spatula in his hand that’s covered in cookie crumbs that are spilling all over the floor. That’s him with the apron on, the fracking _apron_ , and Thea brought that for her as a gift when she found out what a terrible cook she was, so why does it look so good on him? It’s not fair, not at all fair to the human eye.

That is her asshole daughter, stood up on one of the dining room chairs so she can properly reach the kitchen worktop. That’s her with her hair pulled back in one of Daddy’s messy braids and the widest grin on her face. That’s her with her own little apron on and okay, that’s the very definition of cute, and Gramma Donna’s gonna need a few pictures of that, like, now.

That is her asshole husband with flour on his cheek, with tiny handprints of it over his jeans. That’s him with the cookie batter pressed into his stubble. That’s him spreading the cookie-making process all over the kitchen he keeps meticulously clean before, during after he cooks.

That is her asshole daughter with her glorious laughter echoing through the entire house as Daddy spins her around on the chair in a dance that rivals a Disney ballroom scene. That’s her with her braid flicking around and slapping against her shoulders as she wiggles and moves to whatever kids song is playing in the background. That’s her with the biggest freaking smile on her face that’s just the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

This is her asshole family. These are her assholes. This is the wonderful things she comes home to and it kinda makes her hate them in that special love-hate you’re-an-asshole way, because a) she’s jealous as hell that she’s not a part of this and she really, really wants to be at home and not at work and b) how can a father and daughter be this perfect? It shouldn’t be allowed. It’s not good for her ovaries, which are almost begging her for more perfect asshole daughters by her perfect asshole husband.

Assholes, the pair of them.

But they’re hers.


	26. Anything Like Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my-wondrwall said: You’re family fics are always so amazing so just offering you a prompt idea based on the song Anything Like Me by Brad Paisley. Expecting Oliver and Felicity find out they’re having a son and Oliver suddenly has a huge freak out because he remembers himself pre-island and thinks about how their son could be just like him.

_I remember sayin’ I don’t care either way_  
Just as long as he or she is healthy, I’m okay,  
Then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen  
and said, “you see that thing right there? well, you know what that means”  
I started wondering who he was gonna be  
and I thought “heaven, help us if he’s anything like me.”

He’d been silent the whole evening, and Felicity wasn’t going to stand for it anymore. This was supposed to be a happy day, and he was spending it in silence. He’d smiled in the hospital, held her hand, kissed her when they were told, and listened to her ramble over the phone to her mother on the way home and then…nothing.

She finds him in the unpainted nursery, the one they’ve put together with Ava’s old crib and he’s leaning over it with his head in his hands. She checks down the hall once more that their four-year-old is occupied on her bedroom floor with her coloring and then she steps back into the nursery, closing the door behind her.

“Okay,” she says, breaking his reverie. “Talk. What’s going on in your head?”

“Nothing,” he mumbles, pushing up from the crib rails and forcing a smile for her. “Just-”

“Lying to me?” she challenges him, folding her arms over her growing stomach.

He follows the movement of her arms, lingering on the way her arms are slightly elevated due to the curve of her pregnant stomach. He goes over to the chair that she used to sit in to nurse Ava, the one they’d once passed on to Thea and now taken back now that her daughter was growing up. It seemed to be a chair that was intent on staying in the family, and they were all fine with that.

As he sinks into it, Felicity approaches, standing in front of him. “Come on, talk to me,” she tells him. “It can’t be parenting jitters because we’ve already got one and we haven’t messed her up entirely…”

His hands go to her hips, and he leans forward to press his forehead to her stomach. He used to do this with Ava, because this was the closest he could get to her. “We’re having a boy,” he whispers.

“Yeah, we are,” she confirms, and hearing the smile in her tone makes him bit his lip. His silence draws a frown from her, however. “Are you…disappointed?”

“No,” he says quickly, sighing after. “I’m happy, I am, I just…”

“Oliver,” she murmurs, her hands come to the back of his head, closing him in against her. “We’re raising Ava. How can raising a boy be any more frightening than that?”

He cracks a smile against her skin, which she feels from this position. “It’s stupid,” he whispers.

“Tell me anyway,” she insists lightly.

“I’m afraid to say it out loud,” he confesses, and she gets him to lean back.

Awkwardly, she shuffles down into his lap, her legs thrown over the arm of the chair. They curl around each other, the two of them and their little boy in the same embrace. “Tell you what,” she suggests. “Let’s make a game of it. If you think it’s so stupid, we’ll trade. I’ll tell you a stupid thing about this pregnancy if you tell me one?”

He huffs out a soft laugh, shaking his head. “Alright, you first though?”

She screws up her face. “I cried at America’s Got Talent last night because my hormones are such a wreck.”

Oliver sighs. “This is a bad game, I don’t think I can beat that one. That’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done.”

She bats his arm and he laughs properly this time. “Shut up, play the game.”

He takes a moment, then nods. “I’m secretly afraid that you’ll throw a shoe at me again when I try to talk you out of wearing heels when they hurt your feet.”

“I’m afraid I won’t lose as much baby weight after our second one.”

“I’m afraid we’ll get the wrong color blue for the nursery and it’ll be the pink/lilac debate all over again.”

“I’m afraid of hemorrhoids,” she murmurs, and when he raises an eyebrow at her she shrugs. “What, they’re very common in pregnancy and I don’t want them.”

“I’m afraid the labours going to be long and hard on you again.”

“I’m afraid that raising a newborn will make me so tired I forget to wake Ava up for school.”

“I’m afraid Ava will get jealous of the baby.”

“I’m afraid my goofball husband is getting so worried over nothing that he’ll look back and hate himself for not being happy about what we found out today,” she breathes, and he crumbles against her.

His head falls against her shoulder. “I’m afraid that he’ll grow up exactly like me, and I’m afraid that I won’t be a good enough father to teach him to be better.”

She’s silent, her arms winding around his shoulders and he closes his eyes. Her fingers creep up the back of his neck and he can feel his anxiety slipping away, shred by shred. She always know show to do this with the simplest of touches, knows all the ways to chase away his demons, and only when he’s taken several long, slow breaths, does she speak.

“Our daughter is a pain in the ass.”

He laughs in short breaths against her shoulder.

“But she’s a good girl,” she continues. “She’s kind to people, she’s intelligent, she speaks her mind but she’s never rude. She cares about people more than I’ve ever seen a kid do. She shares her toys, she compliments people, she’s…the most beautiful pain in the ass in the world,” she decides,

“She is pretty amazing,” he agrees.

“And I attribute all that to you,” she tells him. “All of it.”

“Felicity…”

“No, really. You nailed this stay-at-home dad thing. You’ve been here with her every single day, for every single moment, and you’ve taught her things far more important than what she’ll learn at school. Okay, maybe not completely, because math and spelling is important too, but you know what I mean,” she shrugs.

He sighs against her again, bringing his hand up to cover his stomach. “But if he’s like me-”

“Then he’ll be a passionate, confident and gorgeous little boy,” she tells him. “You’re worried about the partying, the drinking, the police record? We have to worry about that with Ava too…I mean, what about the goth phase? I’m terrified they’ll get into that.” His smile is weak, but she lifts his chin, pressing her lips to his. “They’re going to terrify us for the rest of our lives, Oliver. We might as well enjoy whatever moments we can.”

“You’re right,” he nods slightly, and her lips press to his again.

“And you are a wonderful father,” she reminds him. “I have every faith that our son will turn out as brilliantly as our daughter.”

“Another pain in the ass?”

“Well, I think that part’s inevitable,” she smirks.


	27. Nothing Like The Parenting Blogs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> inscreaminggcolours said: DIALOGUE FIC: Oliver and Felicity telling Ava that Felicity is pregnant!
> 
> Anonymous said: Dialogue prompt. Ava calls Diggle, “Diggy” lol

“We have to tell her, we can’t keep it a secret much longer.”

“You’re right…now that everyone else knows someone’s going to let it slip.”

“Probably Thea.”

“Oliver…”

“You know it will be, she’s far too excited for a kid that isn’t hers.”

“We’re excited too.”

“I know, I’m just…worried about telling her.”

“Me too…I’ve been reading parenting blogs all week.”

“I thought we agreed you’d stay off those?”

“I thought we agreed _you’d_ stay off those, superdad1985?”

“Point taken.”

“I’m just worried. She’s had so many changes this year what with her new glasses, then starting school…what if this is just too much change in one go?”

“It’s not like we can keep the baby in there longer than it wants to me.”

“Ava was a nightmare to carry, trust me, if I get the option to safely deliver as soon as tomorrow, I am taking it.”

“We’re avoiding the issue. How do we tell her?”

“The stork?”

“Can’t. She doesn’t trust birds, she thinks they’re sneaky.”

“What do you mean she doesn’t trust birds?”

“I explained the whole concept of lucky magpies this week and she’s convinced that birds are secretly running the world.”

“What do you to do when I’m at work?”

“That, mostly. But yeah, the stork is out.”

“What about the baby tree thing? We planted something and a baby’s going to grow?”

“She’ll dig up half the garden, you know that.”

“Ugh, this would be so much easier if she was….”

“…if she was?”

“I can’t say it, the way that sentence ends makes me feel like a horrible mother.”

“You were going to say ‘normal’, weren’t you?”

“What little girl doesn’t trust birds, Oliver?”

“What if we’re just honest about it? Mommy and Daddy love each other very much and when you’re in a love a baby happens?”

“Happens?”

“Do you want to tell her how it got in there?”

“No, but I’d pay good money to watch you try.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening. I don’t want her knowing about sex until she’s thirty.”

“You know what, you’re right.”

“I know, she’s too young and-”

“No, about the love idea. We’ll make it all about love and how this is a really good thing and she can’t possibly be sad about having to share us.”

“Except she will, because we’re her favourite people in the entire world.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

“Yeah, about that, we’re not.”

“We’re not her favourites?”

“Not any more?”

“What do you mean, not any more, I’m Daddy, I’m the greatest guy in the world.”

“But you’re not so completely great as Uncle Diggy, and I’m not as good as Aunt Thea.”

“Does Digg know that she calls him that?”

“Not yet, that’s something new today.”

“This would be so much easier if she was just a little bit older and we could just explain that we’re having another baby and she’s going to be a big sister, without any complicated questions.”

_“We’re getting a baby?”_

“Well, that’ll do it, superdad1985.”


	28. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> punchdrunkdoc said:
> 
> I have an image in my head of Oliver in his super sexy and tough Green Arrow leathers, cradling his newborn baby. Can you fic this, pretty please?

She knows it was a bad night when he doesn’t come to bed.

He hadn’t entirely wanted to get back into the suit so soon, insisting that paternity leave from the company is paternity leave from the Arrow too, but he’d been getting restless after ten days and she sends him out for the night with Thea. Truth be told, she needs a little one-on-one time with her little girl too, and Oliver is nothing if not an attentive father.

She hears the beginnings of Ava’s night time change cry and she starts to get out of bed when a whispered hush stops her.

“Shh, it’s okay, don’t cry, Daddy’s here. Let’s get you changed, little princess.”

The grizzling fades out to gentle sounds instead, and she pads her way to the next room. She hasn’t been asleep yet, but she didn’t hear him come home either. She pauses in the doorway, watching him as he leans over their little girl on the changing table. She wriggles around but he changes her diaper as if he’s had the skill more than ten days, and he walks over to the window with his freshly changed, cooing daughter.

“That’s better, isn’t it? All dry now.”

He nestles her head against his shoulder, and she realises that he’s still in the Arrow suit. He never wears it home, which means he’s come here before even going back to the foundry. He holds their baby girl with such caution, and she knows there is no safer place she can be - Oliver’s arms could walk her safely through hell, because this newborn his world now.

“Hey,” Felicity whispers from the doorway, attracting his attention.

He looks pained. Worn. Empty.

“Go back to sleep, babe,” he whispers on auto-pilot. “You’re tired, I’ve got her.”

“You’re tired,” she counters, stepping into the room and simultaneously placing a hand on her daughter’s back and her husband’s cheek. “Need a minute?” she checks. He still has trouble grounding himself sometimes, and there are nights where he needs to separate himself and nights he needs to embrace everything he loves.

He shakes his head, his hand coming to rest over hers on Ava’s back. “I just had…I needed to see her,” he whispers, and his voice is more choked than he’ll admit.

“She missed you,” she comforts him, playing into what he needs. “She’s been on her best behaviour, waiting for Daddy to come home.”

Those words trigger something in him, and his eyes darken before he sags, his arms tightening around his little girl and pressing his face to the top of her head. His next inhale is filled with that fresh new-baby smell, a mixture of baby powder, the lavender bedtime lotion that Lyla told them they’d swear by, and something that it just profoundly her.

“Hey,” Felicity says when she cups his face. “What’s happened?”

He hesitates before speaking, but he doesn’t even begin to detach himself from his daughter. “We were too late. A cop died in action. Jewellery store robbery,” he explains, shaking his head. “He had three kids, Felicity, and they’re never going to see him again and he’s never going to home to them…”

And he breaks.

His large hands cradle his ten-day-old daughter against the uniform that feels like its choking him, and he breaks. Tears spill onto his eyes like they did last Monday morning when he first held her, and Felicity’s hands guide him into the chair she sits in to nurse. She strips away the uniform until he’s left in just his t-shirt and boxers, the Arrow outfit discarded on the floor and now he shifts Ava so she’s lying cradled in his arms instead of upright against his chest.

She’s already asleep again, her tiny hand gripping Oliver’s finger, and he tries to remember how he used to breathe without her in his life.

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t be,” Felicity whispers, easing onto the arm of the chair with her arm around his shoulders. “It was a tragic thing to happen to that family, but you came home to yours,” she reminds him, kissing his temple. “You keep coming home to your family, and everything will be fine.”

“What if I didn’t come home?” he asked, the idea heartbreaking in his voice. “What if something happened and I never got to see her again? I don’t want to miss anything. I don’t want her to grow up not knowing how much I love her.”

“She won’t,” she assures him, her hand carding through his hair. “Because you’re going to be here every day to tell her.”

His head rolls back against her, and she embraces it against her, her kiss turning far more pressing against his forehead and he sighs.

“She’s due a feed soon,” Felicity tells him, because she is exhausted and he does need this. “I made up some bottles in the fridge. Why don’t you have some Daddy-Ava time, let her put you back together, and then come and get some sleep when you’re both settled, okay?”

“You always put me back together,” he mumbles, though his attention falls to his daughter again.

“Yeah, but I have to share you now,” she reminds him, reaching down past him to stroke their baby girl’s cheek. “If you need time with her, then take time with her. It’s what family is for.”

“I love my family,” he shudders out, and Felicity kisses his head.

“You know where I am,” she assures him, and neither of them stir as she slips from the room.

Tomorrow he’ll decide he’s done with the Arrow.

She isn’t surprised.


	29. Back To Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Dialogue fic: Ava walks in on Oliver and Felicity having sex…

“Mommy, can I-”

“OH MY GOD!”

“AVA, BACK TO BED!”

–

“Oh my god.”

“It’s fine, she’s back in bed asleep.”

“She walked in on us-”

“She didn’t know what she was seeing, it’s fine.”

“Oliver!”

“She doesn’t!”

“She didn’t ask any questions?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“Well-”

“Oh my god, this is it. Four years old and we’ve scarred her for life. Oh god. What did she say?”

“She wanted to know why you were sitting on me.”

“Oh god, kill me now.”

“I said I was choking and you were helping me breathe again.”

“You told her what?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“What happens if she sees someone choking and thinks she’s supposed to start-”

“She’s four, she’s not going to see someone-”

“Maybe we should have been honest with her?”

“She’s four, Felicity.”

“Well, not brutally honest, but…like Mommy and Daddy need grown up alone time.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Really, do not come onto me right now. I’m traumatised.”

“I thought this was about Ava being traumatised?”

“Wait, so she is traumatised? Oh god, why would you tell me that?”

“Felicity, love of my life, light of my heart…”

“What?”

“Take a breath…good, now relax…Ava is fine. She was hardly even awake, she probably won’t even remember in the morning.”

“Can you imagine if she’d come in ten minutes before?”

“It wouldn’t have been that bad. I could have told her I was tickling you.”

“This is why we keep it under the covers.”

“This is why we need to implement a ‘knock before entering’ system.”

“Parenting is hard.”

“So hard.”


	30. Really There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Olicity Prompt: Oliver and Felicity feel their baby moving for the first time :) Oliver spends the rest of the day with his hand on her tummy

When Thea arrives back at the foundry after a particularly long patrol, all she’s wanting is a shower, a glass of wine, and her bed - screw it, two out of the three would do her okay. Oliver had chosen to stay back at the last minute with Felicity, and she couldn’t fault him for that so she’d stayed out the extra hour.

She arrives back to a semi-dark room, with only the light of Felicity’s computer screens pooling light on the couple seated before it. Felicity seated in her usual chair, leaning back with her hands clasped at the top and bottom of her growing stomach, and Oliver at her side in another chair, though he was leaning almost double to be solely concentrated on that swell of life. Thea hears the soft whispers, the gentle smiles just ghosts across the room, and she tries to be quiet as she replaces her equipment.

She closes one drawer with a little more force than intended, and when she looks up Oliver is standing there, hands in his pockets and an emotional smile on his face. “Sorry,” she smiles as she turns to her brother. “You guys looked like you were having a moment.”

“We were,” he half-chokes out, stepping closer to her. “She’s just in the bathroom.”

“Again?” she teases. “What’s your kid doing to the poor girl, Ollie?”

“Kicking her bladder apparently,” Oliver says, and Thea’s gaze softens towards him. “Yeah, she’s…she’s kicking now.”

His grin is so watery, so undeniably happy that she’s embracing her older brother before she’s even thinking about it. The pregnancy hasn’t been easy on either of them - Felicity suffered too badly with morning sickness in the start, to the point she was hospitalised with it, and there had been a few other health concerns along the way. In short, they hit every possible streak of bad luck, so the fact that they have made it to the first kick, the first real sign of life…she knows what this means to them.

She knows why he stayed behind tonight.

“That’s the best news of the entire year,” she decides, pulling back and matching his grin.

He shakes his head as he’s gathering himself, but his smile stays. “It feels like a little nudge, like, you can actually feel it. She’s really in there.”

“She always was,” she reminds him.

“I know, but…Felicity felt her moving before, but to feel it myself?” He answers by releasing a shuddering breath. “I’m going to be a father.”

“A great one,” she nods.

Usually he denies it. Usually he tells her that he’s worried, that he’s scared, but today he is just happy. “I just uh…while Felicity’s…” he shuffles his feet. “Thank you, Thea.”

“For what?” she frowns slightly.

“It’s been a rough few months, and it means a lot to us both that you’ve been there for all of it,” he explains. “I know we never really talked about it properly, but all those hospital trips, you being there and waiting with us, keeping the media away, getting things ready for when we got home each time…it really means the world to us.”

“Ollie, don’t be ridiculous,” she tells him, rubbing her hand over his shoulder. “You guys are my family, it goes without question. I’ll do anything.”

“You reminded me a lot of Mom lately,” he tells her, then shifts his face and doubles back on his words. “The good parts of her. And I’m…I’m really glad that my daughter’s going to have a person like you in her life.”

“Mmm, you say that now,” she teases. “But wait until you see what I’m planning on teaching my niece.”

“I mean it, Thea, I-”

“I know,” she nods, and she leans up to kiss his cheek. “And I’m really glad that you have this, Ollie. This is the life that you were always meant to have.”

“I can’t wait for it to start,” he agrees.

“It already has,” she says, her gaze falling on Felicity coming out of the bathroom, rubbing her stomach as she did so. “So don’t miss a second of it.”

“I don’t plan on it,” he mumbles, following her gaze.

“Go,” Thea tells him, nudging him back towards Felicity. “Take her home, stay up all night, feel your girl kick,” she instructs him. “I can lock up here. Go have your sweet family moments at home, rather than in this basement.”

His smile is warm, and he turns back before he leaves. “We’ll see you at home soon?”

“Yes, so get the hot chocolate out, and keep Felicity and the baby awake,” she says, pointing her finger at him. “I’m going to want to feel that kick when I’m home.”

“I’ll keep poking her especially for you,” he jokes, and wanders back to Felicity, who’s waiting with a smirk on her face, and Thea laughs, calling after them.

“Don’t poke her too hard, that’s what got you into this trouble in the first place.”


	31. Incoming Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lovebeasunflowerhannie said:
> 
> Hey wanted to give you an Ava prompt. Hope that’s ok 

Oliver hates travelling now that he has a family to leave behind. Usually when he was needed in Central City, Felicity would go with him, and it would be a great opportunity for them to either enjoy a hotel suite for the night or to stop off somewhere on the drive home and spend a few moments ignoring the stresses of their everyday life. But everything has changed since Ava had arrived.

As the delegated stay-at-home parent, Oliver always found it painful to be away from his daughter. At a year old, she ruled his life. Her smile was his every command he wouldn’t dare sacrifice his little girl’s love for anything at all. So these three days away from Ava were heartbreaking. He could see now why Felicity had cried the first morning she returned to work. It was like leaving a part of your heart behind.

His daughter was in more than safe hands, though. Felicity had softly bragged that it would be a girls weekend, and that neither of them would miss him, but the amount of picture messages he’d received through the day proved otherwise. The thought of his wife and daughter at home, without him, gave him that pull towards home that he’d never felt before.

He collapsed into the hotel bed and checked his tablet. Years of living with Felicity had him used to using the portable computers now, and he used it to check his messages, saving the extra photographs Felicity had sent him earlier, but felt his heart sink a little when he saw her goodnight message having been sent over an hour ago.

Oliver tries not to feel too disappointed. She was exhausted, he knows, and she needs the rest. She’s been sick with the flu not long ago and her body is still catching up from that, but it hasn’t helped that it had passed on a chesty cough to their baby as well. It’s why he feels bad for leaving for a few days - both of them were in need of spoiling, and instead he is miles away in another city without the two great loves of his life.

Just as he is about to shut the tablet down and get some sleep, he sees his screen light up pale blue with the Skype icon. Felicity’s face shows up in the centre, and he worries why she is calling him after she’s gone to bed, but he isn’t going to turn down a chance to see her face and quickly swiped to answer the call.

Felicity, however, is nowhere in sight.

He is met immediately by the sight of a pair of tiny nostrils, then a hand pressing over the screen, and he feels a breathy laugh leave him. “Ava?” he says softly.

The screen moves, an array of colours flashing over the screen before the call centres on his daughter’s face. She looks at it for a long time and then lights up in a delighted grin.

“Hi, baby,” he whispers excitedly, finding that his smile fights through the exhaustion.

Her hand slaps down on the screen, giggling out the word ‘da!’ that makes his heart melt.

“Where’s Mommy?” he asks the screen, not noticing any hint of blonde hair in view. Beyond her face, lit only by the screen, there is nothing but darkness.

“Ma!” she whispers, her eyes wandering. “Ma, shhhh.”

“Mommy sleeping?” he asks her, and Ava just keeps looking around at the room until she fixes at one spot. “Ma!”

“Ava, what are you doing?” he hears the sleepy voice of his wife, and then she gasps. “No, that’s mommy’s! Oh god, please say it’s not broken.”

“No, da!” Ava declares, hitting the screen again. “Da!”

“Daddy’s with Uncle Barry,” Felicity mutters, scooping up the tablet and then looking it with half-sleeping confusion. “Oliver…?”

“Hey, gorgeous,” he replies with half a wave.

“I didn’t think you’d call-”

“I didn’t,” he laughed softly. “Ava called me.”

She moves, settling, and Ava crawls into her lap. He feels a little less out of place, because this is the sight that he loves most - his daughter fitting perfectly into the arms of his wife. His girls. Together. Half-sleeping and adorable as hell.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ava can’t use this thing.”

“She’s more intelligent than we give her credit for,” Oliver smirks, lying back against the thin hotel pillows. “We may have created an evil genius.”

“Don’t joke about that, it’s not the first time I’ve thought it,” Felicity mumbles.

Ava curls into her arm, and within seconds she’s asleep, her face pressed against Felicity’s chest as if it holds all the answers to the universe. Oliver watches softly. “God, I miss you guys,” he whispers.

“We miss you too,” Felicity smiles lightly, sliding down to lie down in the bed. “You home Thursday?”

“Tomorrow, if I can,” he sighs. “If you guys have room in that bed for me.”

“Always room for one more,” she tells him.

“Always?” he checks.

“Or two more,” she hints.

His eyebrow raises. “Does that mean what I think it does?”

“It means we can discuss making a bit more room when you get back,” she tells him, and his smile grows.

“Get some sleep, gorgeous,” he tells her. “Tomorrow we’ll make more babies.”

“Go to sleep before I change my mind,” she jokes back, and his screen goes blank.

Falling asleep is a little easier after seeing their faces.


	32. Stress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Dialogue prompt. Felicity: “I don’t think he loves me anymore.”

“I don’t think he loves me any more.”

“Felicity, what do you mean he doesn’t love you?”

“You didn’t see the look on his face.”

“He loves you.”

“I don’t think he does.”

“Honey, you listen to me. He is never, ever going to stop loving you, no matter what you do…wait, what did you do?”

“I shouted at him.”

“For what?”

“He keeps climbing out of his crib in the mornings before I go in to him and I keep telling him not to because if he falls he’s really going to hurt himself. But this morning I’d been up since four o’clock because Ava was sick and I was so exhausted and then when he climbed out I got stressed and I shouted.”

“Oh, baby girl…”

“He looked at me like he hated me, Mom.”

“Sweetheart, he doesn’t hate you.”

“He didn’t want me. He only wanted Oliver, and then he looked at me over Oliver’s shoulder and he was just so angry at me-”

“It was just the shock of it. He still loves you.”

“I’m not so sure. He hasn’t wanted me all day.”

“All day? Honey, it’s only midday.”

“Six hours is the longest I’ve ever gone without hugging Tommy.”

“Felicity, baby girl…”

“Parenting is really hard, Mom. It’s really hard. It’s just equal parts of wanting to give them the world and wanting to hide them from it. How do you balance wanting to cuddle them and wanting to scream at them?”

“You just find a way, baby girl. There’s no right or wrong way to-”

“Of course there is. I don’t want to be that crazy mom on the news who-”

“You are not going to be that mom. Sweetie, you’re tired, you’re stressed, and parenting is hard. And you’ve got two! God knows what I would have done with two of you, you were a beautiful little handful all on your own. But he’s only a year old. He doesn’t hate you.”

“He’s never looked at me like that before. Like I hurt him.”

“You’re protecting him, he just doesn’t see it yet.”

“Mom?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“If you’re not doing anything this weekend, maybe you could fly out? We’d pay, I just…I think…I think Ava would really like to have you here.”

“…Ava?”

“I think she misses you and she’d feel a lot better if you came to stay for a few days.”

“Well, how can I refuse my girl?”

“So you’ll think about it?”

“I don’t need to think about it. I’ll speak to my boss today and see how early I can get there.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“I love you, baby.”

“Love you too.”


	33. What's Mommy Doing?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Ava and Tommy prompt: ‘what is mommy doing?’ Ps love your fics!!!!

“What’s Mommy doing?”

“Shh, Tommy!”

“But what’s she doing?”

“I dunno”

“Then why are you watching?”

“I’m playing spies.”

“Can I play?”

“No, you’re too little.”

“But I wanna play with you.”

“You’re being too noisy, you’ve gotta be quiet if you wanna play spies.”

“Okay, I can be quiet.”

“You’ve gotta whisper like this.”

“So what do you think she’s doing?”

“I dunno, something with her hair.”

“Maybe Daddy’s taking her somewhere nice.”

“But Auntie Thea isn’t coming over to play tonight?”

“Why has she got that funny stuff on it?”

“Why does it smell bad?”

“Why is it blue?”

“It makes my nose sting.”

“It smells like the cleaner Mommy used when I got sick on the floor.”

“She can’t pick me up from school with blue hair, she’ll look like an alien.”

“Maybe she is an alien.”

“Don’t be silly, Tommy.”

“But what if she is?”

“Mom’s not an alien.”

“How do you know?”

“Because she’s not. Daddy wouldn’t marry an alien.”

“What if Daddy’s an alien too?”

“That would mean we’re aliens.”

“How?”

“Because we’re made from Daddy.”

“That’s stupid.”

“No, Auntie Thea said so.”

“She never said that ever.”

“Last week when you cried on the stairs, Auntie Thea said ‘you made them, they’re your problem’ and Daddy did the grumbly voice at her.”

“I like Daddy’s grumby voice. He sounds like the Gruffalo.”

“I think he’s secretly the Gruffalo when we go to bed.”

“But we don’t live in a forest.”

“Maybe he’s a super evolved Gruffalo.”

“Shh! Mommy’s coming!”


	34. Married Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gordamental said:
> 
> Ok, what about: Oliver goes to pick Ava from kindergarten and in the ride home she tells him that she no longer wants to marry her dad, because now she has a boyfriend.

“I think we can’t play weddings any more, Daddy.”

The curiosity peaked his eyebrow as he drove. Ava was usually very talkative on the way home from school, filling him with details about her day whether or not he asked for them - one thing she had inherited was Felicity’s ability to talk without taking many breaths.

“Oh?” he asked her.

Weddings was currently Ava’s favourite game to play, since she’d gone to the office with Felicity one day and become fascinated with weddings. She always insisted her princess dress-up was a wedding gown now, frequently wore a tiara around the house, and once Felicity had let her totter around in the very expensive and precious shoes she’d worn on her wedding day that she kept in a box in the closet.

“Mommy said you only marry one person at a time.”

“That’s right, honey.”

“But I can’t marry you any more.”

She decided a few days ago that she could only possibly marry her Daddy because her Daddy loved her most in the entire world (and Daddy said that he’d chase off her boyfriends). Felicity thinks its adorable, and keeps telling her wedding stories to bring a bright smile to her face. One day, mother and daughter enjoy a whole day watching reruns of Say Yes To The Dress and Oliver has to sit on the floor with Felicity’s bridal veil painfully clipped into his short hair.

“Do you have a new husband now?” he humours her.

“No,” Ava insists.

He laughs, and carries on driving. “That’s good-”

“I have a boyfriend, though.”

He almost swerves off the road, spluttering as he replies. “What?”

“A boyfriend,” she repeats. “His name is Andy.”

“Andy?” he questions, then he frowns. “Wait, Andy Diggle?”

“Yes.”

“Andy Diggle is your boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re going to marry Andy Diggle?”

“Yes.”

None of her answers are ones that he likes. “No, you’re not allowed to get married.”

“Mommy and Auntie Lyla said we could get married.”

“Well, Daddy clearly needs to have a talk with Mommy later.”

“But they said we’d have beautiful babies.”

“Of course they did,” he grumbled. “But you can’t marry Andy Diggle.”

“It’s too late, Daddy. We got married on the dodgeball court at lunch time.”

Married. Dodgeball court. Lunch time.

Why is this not getting any better for him?

“Honey, why did you get married at school?”

“Because it was cute.”

Dammit, it probably was. But that’s not the point.

“You’re too young to get married.”

“But I am married.”

“Well, where are you going to live?” he asks her.

She scowls, he sees it in the rear view mirror. “At home.”

“But you’re married now,” he points out. “Aren’t you going to live with your husband?”

“No,” she insists.

“You have to, that’s the whole point of being married,” he tells her. “I’m Mommy’s husband, and she lives with me.”

“Mommy says it’s because you’re a kept man and she buys you pretty things to keep you happy.”

Despite himself, Oliver snorts.

“Mommy wishes,” he smirks back at her.


	35. Panic Mode

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> winstallenski said:
> 
> Could you do something where Ava is really sick, and Felicity is away on business or something, so Oliver has to get her through the sickness by himself, which he’s never had to do before, & maybe at some point Ava’s fever spikes and he freaks out?

Ava Queen hated mornings with a passion. Oliver isn’t sure when it happens, but he thinks that it’s shortly after her third birthday when she stopped wanting the entire family to rise with the run. But if there’s one thing he’s good at as a stay-at-home Dad, it’s consulting the internet to try to feel a bit more in control as a parent because parenting is hard, and he wants to nail this parenting thing, and he’s not afraid to use the internet as a tool to help him beat the war zone that is toddler years.

They have a routine. It’s a great routine, but right now, Felicity is on a three-day trip to Gotham to secure the biggest merger they’ve ever attempted, and they need a different routine because mornings without Mommy aren’t quite as appreciated for either of them. Oliver’s already semi-grumpy because he woke alone with the favoured side of the bed cold without his wife in it, and now he knows he’ll have to deal with a grumpy toddler too.

He goes into her room, walking past her bed to open the curtains and flood the room in sunlight. When it comes to waking up, Ava is all her mother, and she needs some time to wake up gradually or she hangs over the arm of the couch and glares murder at anyone who makes a noise. He doesn’t go to wake her, however, he goes downstairs, turns on the coffee machine, and gives his daughter a few minutes to rouse herself before he goes back up to her bedroom.

“Wake up, Ava, it’s morning,” he announces brightly, waiting for the onslaught of ‘not momma’ that she always grumbles on the mornings that he gets her up instead of Felicity. She’s never really happy whichever one of them wakes her up, but today the bundle underneath the blankets doesn’t move and complain like usual.

“Ava,” he prompts, and he hears a tiny moan that has him sitting down on the side of her bed and peeling back the pink comforter. “Come on, princess, it’s time for breakfast.”

“Daddy?” she mumbles.

“Yeah, it’s Daddy,” he murmurs, placing his arms either side of her and kissing her nose as she pushes her wild hair away from her face. “You’re still sleepy, aren’t you?” She nods, rubbing her eyes with a deep yawn. “What do you want for breakfast today?”

“Nuffin’,” she grumbles, turning on her side to try and go back to sleep again.

“You’re going to be too hungry to play when you get to preschool if you don’t have breakfast,” he points out.

“No breakfast,” she decides, shaking her head into the pillow.

“No breakfast?” he repeats, a little shocked that his daughter - of all the little girls in the world - is willingly turning down her favourite meal of the day.

“No play,” she mumbles.

He frowns now, because this is definitely what he’d define as abnormal behaviour. “Something wrong, Ava?” he asked, worry seeping into his tone. “Do you feel sick?”

She nods, and turns onto her other side, cuddling up to his side. “No play, Daddy.”

Concern growing, he brings his hand down to her forehead and confirmed his worries - she’s got a fever. A high one. She was fine the night before, and she hadn’t seemed out of herself. She’d eaten her dinner, had her bath and gone to bed just as she normally did. But Oliver was more worried that he’d never had to deal with a sick child on his own before.

When it came to sick children, Felicity was a goddess. She was there for the special Mommy cuddles, there with the back rubs for the coughing fits, there with the popsicles for sore throats and the Disney movies and the blankets and everything because she was freaking mother of the year and there wasn’t anything that she couldn’t do. Oliver, on the other hand, got frustrated at himself when he couldn’t ease the tears of a sick child.

Gathering Ava into his arms, the little girls legs wrapped around his stomach, he lifted her out of the mass of stuffed animals she slept across. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s check your temperature.”

He carries her downstairs, setting her on the couch with her favourite doll, and when she leans her head on the arm and tries to go back to sleep he lets her. He first steps away to retrieve his cell phone from the kitchen worktop, leaving a message on the preschool out-of-hours service to let them know that he wouldn’t be bringing Ava in that morning. He was no doctor, but she definitely wasn’t going to preschool with a fever. Then he got some clean, cooler pyjamas out of the laundry pile so he could change her into something that breathes a little better than what she’s wearing now. Then he gets the thermometer from the top cabinet in the kitchen and eases into the seat next to her.

She crawls into his arms, settling in his lap in a curled-up ball. She doesn’t even complain when he holds the ear thermometer against her - which she usually does - and when he hears a beep he pulls it away.

102 degrees.

Too high. Too high, too high for a girl so small. He knows that much.

He takes his phone out again, hitting his speed dial because his daughter is sick and he doesn’t know what else to do.

“You’ve reached Felicity Smoak, I’m not available right now, leave a message.”

–

An hour later, he’s tried and failed to contact Felicity sixteen times before he remembers her eight o’clock meeting and knows he won’t be able to reach her for at least four or five hours. After that, he resorts to calling Lyla. Because Lyla is a mother and Lyla will know what to do, so he kicks his pride and calls Diggle and asks him to hand over the phone to his wife.

“So it might just be a virus?” he asks, walking back into the living room with a cool cloth in his hands.

“Sara used to get sick all the time when she started preschool,” she tells him. “It’s just all the new germs she’s around with so many kids there.”

“She was fine last night, she wasn’t tired more than usual, she didn’t get up during the night…”

“She might just need to sleep it off,” Lyla suggests. “You’re keeping her home, that’s the best place for her.” He sits down at his daughter’s side, drawing her into his arms and letting her cradle into his embrace. “Keep checking her fever every twenty minutes in case it rises, and if it keeps getting higher then take her to the emergency room just to be safe.”

He thanks her, puts the phone down and turns his full attention to Ava, wiping the cool cloth over her face and neck to try and cool her down a little. “No, cold!” she hisses, trying to push the cloth out of Oliver’s hands.

“Ava, please-”

“No, Daddy” she insists. “No!”

“I know it’s cold, sweetheart, but it’s going to make you feel better,” he coaxes her softly, his voice far more controlled than he feels until he notices her rubbing at her stomach over her pyjama shirt, and he lifts it to see what she’s rubbing at and sees the angry rash covering her skin that definitely wasn’t there an hour ago.

–

He has to tell his wife that he’s taking their daughter to the emergency room in a voicemail. It’s not the best decision he’s ever made.

–

“Don’t worry, Mr. Queen, there’s absolutely no danger to this rash at all.”

“But what is it?” he asks, standing between Ava’s swinging legs as she sits on the edge of the examination table with her body lethargically resting against his torso. “She’s okay, then?”

The paediatrician consults his notes before he answers. “She was admitted with a high fever and a rash, so we have tested to exclude the more serious illnesses such as meningitis, but all tests have come back negative. It’s a simple case of a primary infection caused by the Varicella Zoster virus,” he explains.

Oliver looks a mixture of concerned and confused.

“Mr. Queen, it’s nothing to be alarmed about. Your daughter has the chicken pox.”

“Chicken pox?” he repeats absurdly.

“It’s a very common illness, especially in children, and highly contagious.”

“Ava has chicken pox?” he repeats again.

“Yes,” the doctor repeats.

“So she’s okay?” he checks.

“She’s very tired, and I’m sure very keen to go home, but the virus will run its course and she’ll be back to her normal self in around ten days time,” he assures him.

“I can take her home?”

“We’re getting her discharge papers ready now.”

The doctor leaves for a moment and he leans down to press a kiss to the top of his daughter’s head. She’s still in her pyjamas, and there’s a bright pink bandaid on the inside of her arm where they’d taken blood. “Shall we get you home, baby?” he asks her, smoothing back her hair and raising her chin to his.

“Home, Daddy,” she murmurs, looking up at him with lazy eyes. Now that he knows she’s not in any danger, it’s adorable. “I miss Mommy,” she says, and her eyes turn watery, her voice a higher pitch and he recognises the pre-tears signs on his daughter.

He also recognises the sound of the loud voice beyond the door demanding to know where her daughter is, and he smiles. “I think Mommy found us.”

–

They go home together, the three of them, and Ava falls asleep in the car on the way home. Felicity carries her into the house, and Oliver puts her bag inside the closet and gets a glass of water for Ava before he joins her up in Ava’s room. By the time he gets there, his wife and daughter are already curled up on her mattress, Felicity’s hand resting on her stomach as the girl sprawls out into the space beside her mother. He eases into their space, sitting with his back against the wall and their legs over his lap, a hand on each of their knees.

And finally, he relaxes.

“I’m sorry,” he speaks quietly, as not to wake their sleeping girl. “I shouldn’t have told you in a voicemail, I should have waited and-”

“No,” she cuts him off, shaking her head softly and placing her free hand over his. “You were right to call. I’m glad you did. I’m just glad Curtis saw my phone going off and pulled me out of the meeting.”

“I didn’t know what to do,” he confesses lightly, gripping her hand. “You always know what she needs when she’s sick and that rash appeared so fast…”

“You did the right thing,” she assures him.

“But it was just chicken pox. I took her to the emergency room for chicken pox,” he repeats incredulously.

“She had a high fever and a rash,” Felicity points out. “What if you’d passed if off as the flu, let her sleep it off and it had turned out to be something really serious.”

“It wasn’t,” he insists.

“But it could have been,” she says. “I’d rather drop everything and go out of my mind over nothing than underestimate something terrible,” she whispers.

He sighs heavily, taking this moment of being close to his girls. His eyes slip shut, but they open again when she tugs on his hand. “Come here.”

“No room,” he points out.

She shifts, moving so that Ava lays over her stomach and she’s on the edge of the bed. He wishes now that they’d spoiled her and got her a big bed, but then he sinks into the space between Felicity and the wall and he’s surrounded by them and he understands the point of this now. He’s pretty sure that he’s using a Baymax plush as a pillow, but he doesn’t care. His face buries into Felicity’s hair, planting a kiss in the dip below her ear as his hand comes to rest on Ava’s.

“How did you get back so fast, anyway?” he asks in the silence.

“Turns out Bruce Wayne is a sucker for a sick kid,” she whispers. “Private jets are remarkably easy to come by when you’re in a panicked mom mode.”


	36. Bringing Up Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fic prompt: Felicity with hyperemesis gravidarum. Established Olicity.

They spend more time in the hospital during their first pregnancy than they do at home. Or at least, it feels that way.

Felicity’s only fourteen weeks pregnant, barely showing with just a hint of roundness on her lower stomach, and this is their third hospital stay in five weeks. It’s destroying him. He feels worn, helpless and…no, that’s it. Helpless. He feels completely, utterly helpless. Yes, they’re ecstatic about their child-to-be, and they’re trying to see this pregnancy as a positive thing, but all Oliver can see at the moment is that his child is literally sucking the life out of her.

Or rather, kicking it back up her throat.

This time things feel more in control when they arrive. They know the drill, she hasn’t kept fluids down in twenty-four hours and she’s severely dehydrated. The last time she kept food down was at least two days ago, and between attempts to eat and drink, she’s vomiting at least every fifteen minutes. They haven’t slept, haven’t left their home except his frantic trips to the grocery store to find anything that she might be able to keep down, and as soon as they hit the twenty-four hour time limit, he’s got her in the passenger seat of the car with a bucket in her lap and they’re driving to the hospital.

Pregnancy isn’t glamourous. Never believe anyone who tells you that is.

This time she’d admitted straight away, and he’s grateful again for their incredible health insurance package and for the benefits that come with the Queen family name. They hook her up to an IV of some anti-sickness medication and after an hour, she finally gets to sleep.

The first time, Oliver stayed awake, he questioned every nurse that came into the room to know what was normal, what was happening, wondering whether this meant something was wrong with the baby, did they need a specialist, did they need to be thinking about decisions, and he never took his eyes off her for the two days they stayed in the hospital.

The second time, he dozes in an out, and they’re only there for one night, but he makes sure to be awake when the doctors come in and he listens carefully when they get a different list of things to try when they go home.

This time, he’s almost as exhausted as she is, and when he’s sure she’s sleeping, comfortable, and calm, he rests his head on his arms and falls asleep.

–

He wakes to fingers stroking over his jaw, and he flickers his eyes open to gaze at her face. She’s curled on her side, her head propped up on one arm instead of the pillow. “You need a shave,” she tells him, her throat not as scratchy as it’s seemed the last few days.

“I’ve been distracted,” he points out, turning his head to plant a kiss on the inside of her palm. “How’s your stomach?”

“Better, the IV helps,” she tells him, giving him a thoughtful look. “Do you think they’d let us take a few bags home?”

“I think we’re a few decades away from curling up in front of the TV with bags of fluid,” he gives her a teasing smile, but she fixes him with a look.

“What’s that, Mr. ‘Oh my god, they sell wine in bags’?”

“That was once, and we should never be allowed in a grocery store when we’ve already been drinking,” he laughs, lifting his head up and checking the time, he raises his eyebrows instantly. “Whoa.”

“Yeah, we’ve been asleep for thirteen hours,” she agrees in amazement.

“I can’t remember the last time we slept for thirteen minutes,” he mumbles, wiping his hand over his face.

“At this rate, we’ll be getting more sleep when the baby comes.”

He hums with a smile, his eyes dropping to her stomach. His favourite sentences usually contain the words ‘when the baby comes’. “Has the doctor been around?”

“Yeah, he said we can go home when this IV bag’s done.” She glances up at it, eyeing it up. “About twenty minutes or so.”

They’re experts at this now. He isn’t sure whether that’s sad or not. “Hey,” he whispers, pulling her attention back to him as he clasps her hand between both of his. “We’re going to get a beautiful kid at the end of this.”

“Yes, we are,” she agrees with a smile, and that’s the only thought that’s getting them through this.

“And these meds will work for at least a day, right?” he remembers. “So what do you say we go home, take a bath, get some clean pyjamas on, and gorge on some very unappetising crackers during a Netflix binge.”

She drops her head back with a small groan. “I knew there was a reason I married you.”

“I’ll even let you pick which show,” he smiles at her, kissing her knuckles.

“And that’s why I’m having your baby.”


	37. Ours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> orangeisorange said: A moment from Felicity and Oliver’s first vacation with both the kids.

He comes to her when the sea breeze whips back her hair, and it brings a smile to her lips. She hears his footprints sinking into the sand, then he settles behind her and cradles her back against his chest. She moves willingly with him, sinking into his strong arms and pulling them around her as he kisses her cheek, the side of her neck, her cheek.

A giggle disrupts her peace, and she glances up to see their two children sitting in a similar position, the two of them vastly contrasted in their bathing suits as they played in the sand amid their wild laughter. So she smiles, rests her head against her husband’s shoulder and watches them play in the setting sun.

“This was a good idea,” she hums, contentment seeping into the air around them.

“The best idea,” he agrees, and it is. They’ve been far too busy the last few years that vacations didn’t seem like a possibility, but they knew they were missing out on making memories while their children were small, so they’d come to a private beach house they’d rented once during their first road trip together, and it proves to be just as magical the second time around. “They look happy.”

“Ava’s teaching Tommy the art of sandcastles,” she half-laughs. “It’s not going well, because she doesn’t know what she’s doing either.”

He laughs behind her and she burrows back a few inches closer. She knows where she fits perfectly into these arms and it’s definitely where she wants to spend the night. “So, dinner’s almost ready,” he tells her, as he peppers kisses back across her shoulders and she tilts her head to give him the space he craves. “How about we get these two in, have dinner on the porch, put them to bed and then you and I…” he trails off, landing a particularly suggestive kiss against her throat. “…head back out here with a bottle of wine.”

There’s a squeal beyond them, and their eyes flicker up to watch their laughing children shuffle up the sand to escape the lapping waves getting closer to their attempts at a castle. “I think that sounds perfect,” she breathes out, craning her neck back so she can find his lips with her own. “Thank you,” she murmurs

“For what?”

“I know it’s not easy for us to pack up and leave anymore,” she says. “But these are the moments I missed out on as a kid, and it really means the world to me that you’re making sure that our kids get them.”

“They’re going to have everything I can offer,” he assures her, leaning over her shoulder to mould his mouth against hers, because this is his family and he will not waste a single second of his life not loving them with every corner of his heart. When they part, his forehead rests against hers and he smiles. “You want to get them, or shall I?”

“All yours, handsome,” she smirks, and he hauls himself out of the sand and heads towards where his children play.

They don’t make it easy for him, no matter how hungry they are, but they laugh as he chases them with his dramatic monster noises and their joy is infectious when he finally catches them and lifts them from the ground. The sandcastle sits forgotten as he approaches his wife with his son hoisted up over his shoulder and his daughter held like a football under his arm.

“Dinner’s served,” he announces as she stands up from the sand and meets him halfway. “I thought we could eat these two up,” he jokes.

“No!” both the children shout out through their laughter.

“Mmm, they look scrumptious,” she taunts, relieving him of the wriggling boy over his shoulder and tucks him against her side.

This is never the life they imagined.

This is so much better.


	38. Missing Daddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sophie1973 said: Hi Sam ! I know you asked some evil prompts but I’m more of a Fluff gal :) So when you are done with the angsty ones (which I can’t wait to read) coud you do this one when you have the time : Ava is super excited about Mom & Dad bringing a little brother/sister home, but when the baby is actually there he/she gets a lot of the attention and Ava becomes a bit difficult/clingy (preferably to Oliver) ? Thank you :)
> 
> Anonymous said: Can you do one where Ava is jealous because now that her baby brother is home she can’t get all of her parents attention anymore and she doesn’t like it.

Ava’s got a baby brother. He’s coming home today. She’s never been so excited.

Ava’s had to play on her own for a long time. Daddy’s good at playing but now that she has to go to school she doesn’t get to play with Daddy anymore, so Daddy goes to work with Mommy during the day. But Mommy stays home for a while when she gets a big belly again, but she doesn’t want to play as much. She can’t move around too well and what Ava loves best is jumping games and running around.

Mommy says if she jumps up and down she’ll burst.

One day she does burst, and Daddy takes her to Auntie Thea’s in the middle of the night which was silly because it was already dark outside, but then she remembers that little babies can’t tell the time yet so he doesn’t know it’s night time. She bets he’ll be real tired when he comes out.

She’s not sure where he comes out, just that he comes out from inside Mommy’s tummy.

The next day, Auntie Thea takes her to school in the morning but Daddy picks her up. He isn’t wearing his work suit, he’s wearing his big sweater with the hood that’s her favourite green colour and it’s really soft. She tried to wear it once like a cape but it was too long and she tripped over and cut her lip.

When Daddy picks her up he takes her up to the hospital they went to when she fell off the porch swing last summer and they go through lots of white hallways. There are lots of people walking through, lots of doctors in colourful pyjamas, so Daddy carries her to make sure she doesn’t get lost and she likes it when Daddy carries her because he’s really tall and she can see everything when he lifts her up.

He takes her to see Mommy, and Mommy looks really, really tired. Ava knows she’s tired because she’s wearing her pink nightgown that Daddy helped her choose for mother’s day and it’s got a big unicorn on it, and she always wears that when she’s really, really tired and wants to sleep big. Mommy’s cuddling a big pile of blankets, and Daddy sits her on the bed next to her and Ava sees a tiny little face in it. This is her little brother, Daddy tells her, and his name is Tommy.

Ava loves Tommy a lot.

But Tommy doesn’t like anything.

–

Ava wakes up every night all the time, because Tommy sleeps in Mommy and Daddy’s room which is next to her room and he cries all the time. She thinks he’s scared of the dark because he always cries when it’s dark, and she doesn’t like it because she wants to go to sleep too and he’s really noisy.

One night, there’s a storm and it’s noisy and she’s scared so she cries out for her Daddy, because Daddy always makes her feel better when there’s a storm, but Mommy comes instead. Daddy’s cuddling Tommy, so Mommy puts her back to bed and tells her not to be scared.

But she is scared. Because Daddy hasn’t played with her for a week and she worries he’ll only play with Tommy now.

–

Ava doesn’t get carried anymore when it’s busy. She has to hold tight to Mommy’s hand in the crowds because Tommy can’t walk and he needs to be carried because he’s much smaller. They go to the zoo together and she can’t see the penguins, but Daddy’s got the special t-shirt on that cuddles Tommy so he doesn’t have to hold him so she can’t be picked up. Mommy picks her up so she can see, but Mommy says she’s getting too big and she can’t hold her for long, so she only gets to see the penguins for a few minutes.

–

She asks Mommy to play dress up. But Mommy just watches and lets her play in her dresses. Tommy cries when he wakes up and they have to put everything away because when they bring Tommy in he might spit up on something.

–

She asks Daddy to play after breakfast but he says he has to go to work. Daddy either goes to work, or holds Tommy while he cries, and sometimes he sleeps.

Mommy is there a lot still. She doesn’t go to work while Tommy’s little so she comes to pick Ava up from school every day, and sometimes Auntie Thea does. Mommy takes naps with her before dinner time and she gets to cuddle Mommy a lot when she doesn’t go to work. But Daddy has to do a lot more now and she misses him a lot.

She really does miss her Daddy.

–

She asks Auntie Thea if you get too big to have a Daddy any more.

Auntie Thea takes her out for ice cream on a special girls trip and tells her secrets about why Mommy and Daddy are tired, and what it means to be a sister. She tells her that her mommy and daddy aren’t sisters, so they don’t know, but Auntie Thea is a sister to Daddy and she knows lots of special secrets about being a sister.

Auntie Thea says that Tommy is little and needs his big sister to take care of him, but Ava doesn’t want to take care of Tommy, she wants Daddy to take care of her.

–

When Auntie Thea takes her home she has a loud conversation with Daddy.

–

Daddy puts her to bed that night, and this time he stays for a whole story time and they don’t have to stop halfway through. Afterwards, he sits down in her bed with her and he even lies underneath the covers and Ava gives him one of her favourite stuffed animals to cuddle - the dolphin that Gramma Donna got her for her birthday - and hopes that he stays a bit longer. She likes having cuddle time with Daddy, and they lie facing each other with all her animals in the middle.

“Ava, I had a talk with Auntie Thea earlier, and she said you’ve been feeling sad,” he tells her.

She looks at her animals because Daddy’s eyes are serious and she doesn’t want to be told off.

“Is it school?”

She shakes her head.

“Is it your friends?”

She shakes her head.

“Is it because things are different now Tommy’s here?”

She nods.

Daddy still gives her a serious look. “It’s a lot different, isn’t it?” he says quietly.

“Babies are loud,” Ava whispers.

“He cries a lot. All babies cry a lot.”

“Why?” she asks. “Why isn’t he happy?”

“He is happy. Crying is the only way he can talk to us at the moment, it’s how he lets us know that he’s hungry or he’s wet or if he needs a hug, so we have to listen to him.”

She makes a face. “That’s silly. We need to teach him to talk.”

“When he’s older we can teach him. I bet you can teach him a lot, because you know lots of words now that you’re a big girl, don’t you?” he reminds her and she nods, because she got the best score on her spelling test at school this week and her teacher sent her home with a special sticker that she put on the refrigerator.

“I don’t want to be a big girl,” she says quietly.

“Why not?” Daddy asks her.

“Because I miss being little because then I got to play with my Mommy and my Daddy a lot, and I don’t get to do that no more.”

Daddy’s quiet for a very long time, and she thinks she might be in trouble, but he picks up the animals and moves them so he can cuddle her properly and she hides her face in his t-shirt. It’s warm and smells like Daddy so she likes it. “Ava, you don’t have to be little for that.”

“But we don’t get to play no more,” she says, and she doesn’t want to be upset but she does feel very sad.

“Ava, sweetheart, I know that lots of things are different now that Tommy’s here, but that doesn’t mean you’re too big to be our little girl any more. We still love you more than the whole world. Babies just need a lot more attention when they are this young, and that can make us very tired because he needs a lot more, but that isn’t because we love him more than you. Mommy’s and Daddy’s love all their babies exactly the same.”

“So you don’t love Tommy more than me?”

“No, we love you both, because you’re our babies.”

“And I’m not too big to play with you and Mommy?”

“You’re never too big for that,” he says to her and he sounds serious so she believes him.

“I miss you and Mommy lots,” she tells him quietly, because Mommy told her that it’s important she never ever tells them lies.

“I’m sorry we haven’t had much time to play with you lately,” he says, and he kisses her hair and she loves when he does that so she cuddles him a little more. “It will be different when Tommy gets bigger and he can play too, but right now he needs us, all three of us, to help him grow and get big and strong like you are.”

“Can I help?” she asks. “I can show him things.”

“We need your help,” he tells her. “You know when he lays on his tummy on the floor?” She nods. “That means he’s getting ready to crawl soon. But me and Mommy are too big for crawling, so he really needs his big sister to show him how to do that. Do you think you can help us with that?”

She nods again, because she was very good at crawling and Mommy said that she got into everything so she can show Tommy that too.

“And maybe this weekend, if you have a good day at school tomorrow, we can ask Auntie Thea to look after Tommy and we can go and do something fun together, just me, you and Mommy. How does that sound?”

She lifts her head up then and she smiles, nodding a lot. “Yeah!”

“Okay,” he smiles. “But that means you need to go to sleep nicely tonight and get up quickly and dressed in the morning,” he reminds her, and she’s excited to go out with just Mommy and Daddy so she quickly lies down in her bed and pulls the covers up like a good girl.

Daddy kisses her and tells her that he loves her.

Ava kisses Daddy and tells him that she loves him.

Because she loves her Daddy and her Mommy mostest in the entire world.

And Tommy’s not so bad either.


	39. Marriage Tips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mymusiclove101 said:
> 
> OK I don’t normally do prompts but I would love a sequel to Married Life where Oliver is trying to talk to Felicity about the marriage thing and Lyla brings Andy over and they are adorable. Please??

“Felicity…Ava mentioned something on the way home today…”

“Oh, she didn’t get in trouble again, did she?”

“She…wait, what do you mean ‘again’?”

“It was nothing, it was just a misunderstanding.”

“What kind of misunderstanding?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. I took care of it.”

“….We have never sounded more like my parents, and that…concerns me.”

“Oliver, relax, you don’t need to worry about anything.”

“Except our daughter’s impending marriage.”

“…her what now?”

“She told me after school that I’m not her favourite person anymore, and that she’s marrying Andy Diggle.”

“Well, of course she is.”

“What?”

“Lyla and I have it all planned.”

“Felicity.”

“What? No one’s ever going to be good enough for our little girl, and no one’s ever going to be good enough for their little boy, so we decided we should just accept that our babies are perfect and only good enough for each other.”

“And I don’t get a say in it?”

“You weren’t at the mother and baby group.”

“You haven’t been to mother and baby group for three years.”

“We’re playing the long game.”

“Felicity, I am not okay with this.”

“Oh, Oliver, they’re kids, they’re not really getting married.”

“Oh, and one more point about marriage…”

“So, we’re done with this one? Okay.”

“Apparently I’m a ‘kept man’?”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“She told you about that, huh?”

“She did. Want to explain how that came about?”

“Well, she had some questions about why you stayed home with her and not me. Apparently a lot of her classmates have the whole ‘married rich, stayed at home to raise babies’ mothers. She just wondered why we were different.”

“And you went with ‘kept man’ rather than ‘loving father’.”

“Oliver, I was trying to make her laugh.”

“Sure sounded like she laughed.”

“Oh, come here, you big weirdo.”

“I’m not a weirdo.”

“You are. You’re my weirdo.”

“My girls are ganging up on me.”

“Your girls love you, Oliver. We love you even though you worry about the things you absolutely never need to worry about.”

“Just you wait until Tommy can talk. I’m going to train him to love me most.”

“Oh, Oliver…I started with Ava way before she could talk.”


	40. Queen, Party of Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sickandtwisteddoc said:
> 
> “It’s our fiftieth. Table for one.” - Olicity

“Queen, party of two.”

He sees her already at the table; sees her red dress, her curled hair around her shoulders, her nervous smile beneath perfectly painted lips, and he knows.

This is the woman he’s going to marry someday.

–

“Queen, party of two.”

They come back to this restaurant he paid to help rebuild after the explosion that decimated their first date. She accepted his proposal last night, and as they move to start this new life together it feels fitting to come back here, to the place where it started.

–

“Queen, party of two.”

It’s their first wedding anniversary. Of course they came here. They come here on the first Friday of every month but make an exception for special occasions, of which this is certainly one. It’s been four years now since he first brought her here, and they even have a designated table they always sit at.

It’s at the back, far away from the windows, secluded and private.

Just in case.

–

“Queen, part of two.”

They’re not just celebrating their third wedding anniversary, but something far more precious. Felicity’s pregnant. They weren’t trying, but it’s a happy accident, and they’re both thrilled. Today they told their friends and family, and while they wanted to arrange a bigger meal to celebrate, they didn’t want it to intrude with their anniversary, so tonight they’ll gather at the Diggle’s house and toast to their child-to-be.

Tonight they’ll drink water, eat half their meal before the morning sickness betrays its name, and take home their leftovers.

–

“Queen, party of two.”

It’s their first night out without the baby.

As if they’d go anywhere else.

–

“Queen, party of two.”

Felicity’s pregnant again. She tells him the news over dinner.

He almost flips the table over in his efforts to kiss her.

–

“Queen, party of two.”

Has it been ten years already? Ten years with this beautiful woman as his wife? Ten years, three children and a lifetime of memories already so fulfilling.

Here’s to another ten, right?

–

“Queen, party of two.”

Twenty years, and she’s still the most beautiful woman in the world.  She always will be.

–

“Queen, party of three.”

Their eldest daughter turns twenty-one today. All she wants for her birthday dinner is to come with her parents to the place they fell in love. When posed with that challenge, this is where Oliver suggests they bring her.

–

“Queen, party of two.”

Their youngest went off to college today.

They go out to dinner because the house feels too lonely without all three of them there.

–

“Queen, party of two.”

They’re grandparents, can you believe it?

–

“Queen, party of two.”

Another anniversary. Another grandchild. Another milestone.

–

“Ah, Mr. Queen, so good to see you again.”

“Thank you, Marco. It’s been a long year.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“It’s our fiftieth wedding anniversary. Table for one.”

He sits at their table, orders her favourite arrabiata and their favourite bottle of wine.

It’s their fiftieth. She’s not here to join him. Sickness took her from him a few short months ago, but if the history books are to be believed, he won’t join her for at least another two years. He’d join her right now, but his children and grandchildren won’t hear anything of the sort.

Still, it’s their wedding anniversary.

And he doesn’t love her any less than if she were here.


	41. Smoak Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sharingmyworld said: Hey! I don’t know if you’re taking prompts right now, but if you are: Ava waking up from a nightmare.

The scream comes so suddenly she’s grabbed her glasses and is halfway across the bedroom before she’s even aware she’s awake.

Oliver’s a second behind her, and usually she’d comment about the fact that she sprung into action before him but right now her little girl is screaming bloody murder in the next room, and all she can do is sprint into the room with her glasses half hanging off her face and slam her hand against the lightswitch.

Oliver’s practical. He halts in the doorway, assessing the threat, checking the window, eyes wandering to the closet, the night light, the toys strewn on the floor, but Felicity is expertly navigating them, ignoring the stray lego brick beneath her toes, and gathering her frightened daughter into her arms.

“Shhh, shh baby, Mommy’s here.”

Ava clings to her, her tiny hands thrown around her mother’s torso as her screams silence into heavy, fast breaths punctuated by hiccups. “Mommy.”

“It’s okay, sweetie, it was just a bad dream.” She looks instantly to Oliver, who gives a nod to confirm that there’s nothing more sinister at play, but she doesn’t hold her daughter any tighter.

“Monsters,” she gasps, one of her hand waving towards the closet.

“No monsters, sweetheart,” Oliver murmurs, kneeling at the side of the bed and stroking his hand over the back of her head, all he can reach since she’s buried so much of herself into Felicity.

“Monsters, Daddy!” she insists.

“Daddy checked,” Oliver assures her.

They’ve never lied to her and said that monsters aren’t real. Instead, they teach her that monsters can be defeated.

“Kay,” she mumbles, satisfied that Oliver’s checked for monsters, but she’s still breathing fast, and Felicity’s hand falls on her back.

“Oliver, she’s really shaking,” she whispers to him, lifting her concerned eyes to his, rubbing her hand up and down her spine.

“She’s just scared, she’ll be okay,” he whispers back, not alerting her to their concern as he continues to stroke her hair.

And Oliver’s right, he always is. After ten minutes of cuddles, she stops shaking, and Felicity’s almost certain she’s gone back to sleep so she shifts back a little and starts to move her towards her pillow, but she stiffens and clings to her.

“Momma stay,” she whispers, her tone so heartbreakingly pleading that Felicity’s eyes close with guilt just for the thought of laying her back down. “Momma please.”

She looks to Oliver over the top of her head. “I’ll stay until she falls asleep,” she nods, and after a last kiss goodnight for them each, Oliver heads back to their bedroom.

Felicity eases their four-year-old back beneath her duvet, only this time she crowds into the small bed and tucks Ava between herself and the wall. “Is there room for Momma under here too?” Ava nods, re-arranging her stuffed animals so there’s room, and then Felicity settles with her head on the pillow. The little girl sinks into her arms, and she returns the embrace with a firm kiss to the top of her hair. “Better?”

“Better,” Ava murmurs, nuzzling her cheek into the top of Felicity’s chest.

While Felicity hates seeing her daughter so frightened, she loves moments like this. She used to do this when she was a baby, and one of the joys of maternity leave was afternoon naps…and morning naps. They’d lay down on the couch, stick on some trashy daytime TV, and the two of them would drift off to sleep together. Ava would lay out on her chest, her arms spread over Felicity’s breasts, even holding onto them (she got very possessive of them during breastfeeding, much to Oliver’s jealousy), with her head resting just below her chin. Then, when she got comfortable, she’d nuzzle her cheek against Felicity’s skin and she wouldn’t be able to sleep for the overwhelming love for this tiny girl.

“Better,” she agrees lightly, running her hands through the hair which has slipped free from her braid. “We don’t need to be scared of anything, do we?”

Ava shakes her head, it just rubs her face more against Felicity’s chest.

“And why is that?”

“‘Cause we got Smoak blood,” she whispers.

“Yeah, we have. Smoak blood’s got magical powers of awesomeness, remember. We’re immune to monsters in the closet.” She drops her voice to a whisper, leaning close to Ava’s ear. “Monsters in the closet are scared of Smoak girls.”

Ava gives a small hum, the closest to the giggle she’ll give when she’s scared and tired. “We’re Daddy’s Queens, but Gramma’s Smoak girls,” she repeats the line she’s been told before.

“Yes, we are,” Felicity confirms, tightening her arms around her. “But the most important thing of all? We’re Mommy and Ava, and we’re all cosy and warm and we don’t need to be scared of anything when we’re together,” she whispers knowingly.

Ava’s face screws up, she can feel it against her clavicle. “How can we be ‘mune to monsters if we’re sleeping?” she asks hesitantly.

“We don’t have to be,” Felicity says, reaching one arm and making a few arguments. “We’ve got a whole army here, haven’t we? Let’s see who we’ve got…” Ava turns slightly in her arms so they’re more spooned, propping up on her arms to look at the stuffed animals that Felicity’s arranging against the wall her Ava’s head. “We’ve got…Monty the manatee, and Gerry the giraffe, and Ollie the otter, and…oh!” Felicity gives a dramatic gasp, sitting their final plush toy at the end of the line. “Captain Sparkles the Unicorn. The general of the bedtime army.”

“They’ll protect us while we sleep,” Ava nods, curling back against Felicity.

“But we have one more weapon against the monsters, don’t we?” she muses. “We need our camouflage.”

Ava remembers the last time they tucked up together like this, and reaches for Blankie, drawing it up over their heads until they’re covered and hidden beneath it. The whispers grow softer now, mother and daughter completely sheltered by the green wool that, thankfully, breathes well enough with it’s checkered material.  

“Momma?”

“Yes, baby?” she replies as they fall into comfort.

“When I grow up, will you teach me not to be scared of the monsters?”

Felicity puckers her lips, and Ava leans in to give her a peck of a kiss. “Sweetheart, when you grow up, I’ll teach you how to beat all the monsters.”


	42. No Home Without You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Can you do one where Oliver is having separation anxiety after being home with Felicity and their baby for a while, and the first time he has to leave them to go out of town, he has a nightmare that something bad happens to the both of them & rushes home in the middle of the night?

He wakes with a short cry, his arm flying out to the side of the bed that houses the warmth of his wife, and his heart stops when it touches nothing but cold bedsheets.

The room comes back to him slowly, and he recognises the bland hotel room instead of his bedroom, and he sits up, drawing his head into his hands until his breathing levels out. He’s not at home. He’s in Central City, he’s working a case with Barry and his team, and his wife isn’t at his side.

He’s alone. So very alone.

Felicity’s at home with their baby daughter. It’s the first time he’s been away from them since Ava was born and it’s causing his blood to pound with a longing for them that he’s never felt before. He hasn’t been apart from them for more than a few hours in eight months, and he hasn’t seen them for two days now. It’s killing him.

He needs them.

He reaches for his phone, doesn’t care about the time, and waits for his call to connect.

“Barry…yeah, I know it’s late…I need a favour.”

–

His key slides into the lock, and the second his key opens he’s greeted by the sound of a baby crying that confirms his worst fears. He runs up the stairs and into his daughter’s bedroom, and doesn’t stop moving until he’s got one hand on his Felicity’s shoulder and the other on his daughter’s back and– “What is it? Is she okay? Are you okay? What’s happened?”

“Oliver!” Felicity jumps under his touch, tuning to face him. “What are you doing here?”

“Are you both okay?” he asks her again.

She frowns, places a hand on his cheek, then passes the crying baby to him. Ava settles with her head on his shoulder, pudgy arms pressed against his chest. “We’re fine,” she assures him. “I just changed her diaper, she didn’t want to go back down after,” she explains.

He sighs, breathes in the scent of baby shampoo, and closes his eyes.

“What are you doing home?” she asks him, when his free arm draws her into the same embrace, their infant daughter between them.

“I woke up, you weren’t there,” he explains.

It’s enough for her to know.

She stands on her tiptoes, brushes her lips against his, and he responds with an urgency that’s almost bruising. Her arm falls around his waist when she feels his tongue knotting with hers, and it’s the silence of the baby settling that breaks them apart. She pats her hand against his chest. “Let her sleep, then you need to sleep, okay?”

He wants to bring the baby with them, but he also wants to wrap his body around Felicity’s in a way the baby can’t be present for, so he places his sleeping daughter back in her crib and follows his wife to the bedroom when her hand wraps around his.

The moment the door closes, his throws himself at her, lips seeking every inch of her skin as he travels his kisses over her lips, her cheeks, her throat and…stops on her pulse. It’s throbbing beneath his touch, and he breaths over it before his kisses turn softer.

She stills beneath him. “Oliver,” she whispers, carding her hand through his hair. “Talk to me.”

“I don’t like being away from you,” he confesses, his face hidden in against the solid thud-thud-thud of her pulse.

“It was just a nightmare,” she murmurs in assurance.

“You weren’t there when I woke up,” he tells her, and his next breath hitches. “I just… I had to make sure you were both okay. I needed to see you.”

“You see me,” she says, placing her lips against the top of his head and he sinks. He falls against her as he always does, and she’s there to pick up the pieces of the fractured man he becomes when he’s apart from her.

“You’re coming with me next time,” he shudders out his words, lifting her legs around his hips as he presses her against the closed door, his lips continuing their path down to her collarbone. “Both of you.”

“Okay,” she says through a gentle moan, tilting her head to give him more access to the sensitive skin that he’ll torment until she’s a writhing mess. “I missed you,” she adds as her legs tighten around him.

“Missed you more,” he breathes against her shoulder.

“How much more?” she asks, feeling his hands disappear beneath her nightgown.

“Let me show you.”


	43. Almost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: PROMPT: The bad guy that Team Arrow has been pursuing finds out Oliver’s true identity and when he threatens to go after someone he loves, the team automatically assumes he’ll go after Felicity, but he goes after their daughter instead.

The message is clear. So clear, that Oliver has Felicity on lock down the second the arrive at the foundry. Whoever is after the Arrow has worked out who he is really, has discovered that Oliver Queen is the Arrow, and that makes it all too easy for them to discover what’s really important.

Felicity.

_Mayor Queen, I’m coming for your girl._

Instantly, Felicity’s under guard. He can’t allow anything to happen to her. Not his wife. Not his Felicity.

“Oliver, I’m fine,” she tells him as he paces.

“I’m not taking any chances,” he insists.

“We can’t stay down here all night.”

“You’re going to stay down here until he’s caught,” Oliver says sternly, because this is his family, and this is what he does best - he protects her.

“Oliver, I-”

“Felicity, please,” he stressed, bracing his hands on the arms of her chair as he leaned over her slightly, allowing her to see the vulnerability in his eyes. “I can’t think about him getting his hands on you. I need you to be safe so I can end this…please.”

“I was going to say, I’m happy to stay down here, but Ava’s school lets out in a half hour and someone needs to be there to pick her up.”

Ava.

All of a sudden, Oliver’s trapped by white noise.

Felicity’s speaking, but all he can see is her lips moving, and the pieces finally fall into place.

“He was never coming for you,” he mutters, pushing away from the chair.

“What?”

“The message said he was coming for my girl,” Oliver reminds her. “Every time he referenced you before he mentioned you as a woman. The woman I love, the woman I care about, the woman I work with…now suddenly he’s calling you a girl? That doesn’t make any sense, unless what he really wanted was–”

“–Ava,” she finishes for him.

–

“Oliver.”

His head snaps up from where it’s resting on the wall. He hasn’t moved in hours, his body curled at the end of his daughter’s bed where he can watch her sleeping. She’s oblivious to his presence, of course, she’s been fast asleep since they arrived home, but he’s not ready to leave her yet. His hand strokes over her lower leg as it slips out from under the duvet, her tiny toes flexing even in her sleep, and he’s been watching, wondering what it is she dreams of, wondering if she’ll remember enough to tell him over breakfast tomorrow.

Felicity steps in, her bathrobe slipping on one shoulder and he can see her bleary eyes without her glasses. “It’s the middle of the night,” she whispers.

“Sorry,” he says softly, making no indication to move.

“She’s okay, Oliver, he didn’t get to her,” she says, dropping carefully to the floor at the side of the bed, resting her chin on his knee.

“He almost did,” he says, returning his gaze to their sleeping six year old.

“You got to her first,” she assures him. “You always do.”

He remains silent, and when Ava shifts in her sleep he lifts his hand from her momentarily, only replacing it when she’s settled again. He doesn’t breath the entire time.

Felicity watches him, watches the storm within him that refuses to calm. “What did you do?” she asked softly.

“He threatened my daughter,” he said simply. “You know what I did.”

The silence hangs between them after that. It’s unsettling, but Felicity places her hands over his. “You need to come to bed,” she tells him quietly.

“I need to stay,” he whispers, shaking his head.

Felicity doesn’t encourage him, she just gets to her feet, and quietly crosses the room to Ava’s closet. She reaches behind some of the toys on the upper shelf, and comes back with her old baby monitors, the hi-tech ones with the camera installed that thankfully still have batteries on, and she places the main unit beside Ava’s bed. The handheld unit works as well, and she places it into Oliver’s hands, giving him a pointed look.

“If she wakes up and sees you staring at her, you’re going to freak her out,” she points out. “So you need to come to bed, and if you want to stay awake all night watching her, then you can,” she says softly.

This time she places her hands on his wrists, guiding him up and out of the room. He doesn’t fight her, doesn’t pull against her, but he lets her lead him. He doesn’t let out his sigh until they’re laying in their bed. Oliver tucks her against him, his arms around her as they also hold tight to the device that allows him to keep watch over his daughter.

Felicity ducks her head so her lips fall against the side of his wrist. “Try to get some sleep,” he murmurs to her, placing his mirroring kiss somewhere in her hair.

“Will you?” she asks him, nestling into his arms.

“No,” he answers honestly.

He can’t sleep, not when someone almost took his daughter from him today. He’s too busy thinking about what would have happened if they hadn’t realised it when they did, what would have happened if they’d been too late. He can’t sleep when there’s the image of having to tell his wife that he their daughter was missing, hurt, or worse. How can he sleep when this was almost their reality?

“She’s okay,” Felicity whispers.

She is, Oliver thinks to himself. Ava’s fine. She has no idea what almost happened today.

This is what he was afraid of, so many years ago. His family coming under the crosshairs. He was justified in that fear, because the tiny life in the next room is one he created with the love of his life, and the thought of something happening to her is …soul-destroying. There’s no other word for it. If anything ever happened to her, it would be the end of the soul that Felicity started to rebuild and Ava pieced together.

He can’t lose either of them.

“You’re not going to lose us,” Felicity murmurs.

He will. One day.

Today, he got to keep them.


	44. Be Nice To Mommy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sportssqueen said: Don’t know if you’ve ever written anything like this, but could you write a doc where the baby is kicking a lot while Felicity is trying to sleep so Oliver tells the baby a story??? Btw, your writing gives me life! :)

Huff.

Shuffle.

Stillness.

Oliver shut his eyes again. It had been happening on and off for the last half an hour, and at his guess it was somewhere around two o’clock in the morning. Neither of them had been to sleep yet. It didn’t help that they’d been awake since five that morning with Felicity’s morning sickness making a repeat performance the last few days. It had been a long, exhausting day, and all they wanted was to sleep.

Huff.

Shuffle.

Stillness.

“Felicity…” he murmured, his arm reaching for her and finding a little more distance than he’d like. She’d curled right to the edge of the mattress, and he was the one huffing when he closed the gap and pulled her back against his chest.

“Oliver, no,” she grumbled, inching forward away from him. “Go to sleep…”

“I can’t sleep with you shifting around,” he told her.

“I’m sorry,” she huffed, slumping over the pillow. “Every time I get comfortable she starts kicking again,” she complained.

He slid one arm around her stomach. For a moment, she settled, she stilled beneath his touch and he let out a breath of relief.

A moment too soon.

“Felicity,” he groaned when she shifted again.

“I’m sorry,” she moaned, flipping onto her back, spreading one leg out so that it bent at the knee in a bid to get comfortable.

He huffed as she had, propping himself up on one arm, looking down at his heavily pregnant wife and taking in the position she’d gotten herself into which appeared be some weird yoga-style pose combined with extreme exhaustion. “Okay, desperate measures.”

“Just go to sleep,” she said, waving her arm at him as if she’d push him back to the mattress if she had the strength.

Instead, he shuffled down the bed, resting his weight on his forearms as he leaned over her stomach. “Right, where is she?” he asked, the tiredness heavy in his voice.

Felicity one of his hands, placing it on her left side. “Her feet are here, her back’s right down here against my bladder,” she said, stroking his hand across her lower stomach as she mapped out the position of their unborn child.

He moved his hand around, placing his forehead against the place where their daughter’s head would be, his hand cupping the side of Felicity’s stomach where she was getting kicked. “Okay, kiddo, we gotta have a talk.”

“Oliver, that’s just going to make her worse,” Felicity told him tiredly. “She loves the sound of your voice.”

“Well, it’s about time she learned that Daddy’s voice means business,” he said gruffly, and gave her a pointed look. “Lean back, close your eyes.”

“She’s not going to sleep,” Felicity said dejectedly.

“Close your eyes,” Oliver repeated, his voice softer this time, kissing her stomach in a way that earned him a gentle hand through his hair. “Alright, listen up, kid. Daddy’s talking now.”

A small press against his hand has him frowning.

“No more of that,” he warned lightly. “You know we love it when you move around, but Mommy needs to sleep, which means you need to sleep. You’re not supposed to be keeping us up at night until you get here.”

There’s no kick this time, but Felicity’s entire stomach rolled as the baby moves within her, causing Felicity to groan slightly and press her hand to her stomach.

“Now, that’s just rude,” Oliver muttered at her stomach. “Comfy now? Can we settle?”

Her stomach fell still and they both held their breath to see if she’d move again.

“That’s better,” Oliver praised, kissing the large bump. “I know you’re impatient, sweetheart, but you’ve got a few more weeks to go yet.”

“I don’t think I can take a few more weeks of this,” Felicity sighed.

Oliver raised his eyes to hers again. “Excuse me, Mommy, you’re supposed to be sleeping,”

She slumped her head back into the pillow, dismissive of his scolding as she got comfortable, slinking her eyes open when he pressed a kiss to the her now-outie belly button.

“Better?” he whispered.

She simply hummed in response, returning her hand to his hair and closing her eyes again.

Oliver’s voice lowered to little more than a whisper against her stretched skin, the movement inside her reduced to a mere flicker that was more assuring than comfortable. “You know, kiddo, when you get here, this is all gonna get a lot harder, so we’ve got to enjoy it while it’s easy. We’re all going to be learning together, so we’re going to have be patient, all of us. We’ve never done this before, and you’ve…well, you’ve never done anything before.”

He felt the hand in his hair start to slow, slackening a little as Felicity started to doze off, but he wanted make sure she was completely asleep before he stopped. It was so rare that she got to appreciate a full night’s sleep with the baby moving around so much. She’d earned at least an hour’s undisturbed rest.

“You’ve gotta be nice to Mommy, do you know why?” he murmured. “Because she’s the greatest person in the entire world, and no one’s ever going to love us as much as she is, so we’ve gotta treat her right, you and me. Think you can help me out on that?” The responding press into his hand was a mere shift, not even enough to hitch Felicity’s breathing. “Good girl,” he whispered. “So be nice to Mommy, she’s remarkable.”

The hand on the back of his head was limp against his neck, and he placed a single kiss against her stomach. “Goodnight, sweetheart,” he whispered, before he carefully moved up to lay beside Felicity, his arm curled protectively over her stomach as his lips pressed to her temple.


	45. You Raise Me Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Do you take prompts based on songs?? If so, I recommend listening to You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban. It came on while I was studying, and it felt so very Olicity to me. Thank you for your amazing writing and contribution to this fandom :)

_When I am down, and oh, my soul, so weary;_  
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;  
Then I am still and wait here in the silence,  
Until you come and sit a while with me.

By the time Felicity finds him, she knows he’s been in position for hours.

She knows it when she first steps into the room, the energy around him so still and terrifying. She doesn’t have to skirt around the idea or contemplate how long he’s hunched in place, because there’s no guesswork with him anymore, no estimation. It’s been five hours and twenty-two minutes since they arrived home from the hospital, and she knows he hasn’t moved from that spot since.

His spine is slightly curved as he slumps in the most hidden of ways. From his position, she guesses that he started with a straight spine, his hands lightly resting on the rail before him as if he didn’t really need it or support, but now the rod takes his full body weight, legs further back as he rested forwards against it. The position is going to leave him stretching out cricks in his neck for hours, and it’ll probably make that horrible, sickening crack that she hated when he first stood straight.

She knows he’s struggling because his hands are still. Usually when he’s still, his hands will twist and turn, his fingers would rub against each other, filled with his natural energy. Oliver in his calm moments is frightening, especially with this aura of destruction around him. His hands are still, avoid of energy, void of life because he’s so drained.

He sighs ever few moments, as if he were more sighing than breathing, and it’s a sign of exhaustion he only feels before the nightmares claim him. He’s trying to hide it, to shield himself from the world, but there’s a side of him that can never hide from her, and tonight she’s glad for it. But he doesn’t look like he’s going to move. Despite his unsettlement, there’s an air of contentment, as if he’s already set his mind to standing there all night, silent, watching…protecting.

His eyes are drooping, and this is something she’s very familiar with. There have been nights in the foundry where he’s resisted visiting his nightmares for so long that he’s been about to fall asleep on his feet, but now the dark circles beneath his eyes look fit to stay. His eyelids are feeling heavier with each passing moment, but no matter how slow and sluggish his blinking becomes, he fixes himself to stay in place as long as possible.

Felicity comes to stand beside him, when she nudges his arm he snaps up, the awful cracking sound resonating  from his back. He winches, then throws her an empty smile, taking the mug she offers him.

“You look exhausted,” she says, her hand coming up to his back now that he’s freed up one of her hands.

“I am,” he breathes out, his eyes falling down again.

“You should get some sleep,” she suggests.

“I’m okay here,” he tells her.

She understands. She doesn’t want to relax either. She’s afraid if she sits down all hell will break loose. She understands his need to remain where he is, to keep looking, to keep watching, no matter how much sleep pulls at him. “Nothing’s going to happen if you sleep,” she reminds him.

“I know that,” he nods, sliding his free arm around her and pulling her against his side. “I just…like watching.”

“Mind if I join you?” she asks with a gentle smile.

He settles her in against his side, and that’s all the answer she needs.

Her eyes drift down to the two-day-old child in the crib that he’s terrified to leave. It’s why he’s been here for hours, the reason his hands are still, the reason he’s sighed so contently yet so distressed, the reason his eyelids are weighted. The reason for his protection and his softness. The child, a boy, has the Queen nose, but this time they’re not looking down at their own baby in the crib.

This is their nephew. They feel helpless for him.

“It’s going to be okay,” she assures him, giving him her most confident smile.

“What if it’s not?” he asks sadly, looking down at his sister’s son.

“It will be,” she insists strongly.

“How can it be?” he asks her helplessly.

“Because even if the unthinkable happens, he’s not going to be alone.”

Thea’s labour was filled with complications, and they’d decided to take her for one final surgery. The baby had to be discharged, however, so Oliver and Felicity had offered to bring the baby home while Roy waits at the hospital with her. Right now she’s in surgery, and they won’t know more until Roy calls them with an update.

His eyes turn to hers, and she sees the pain he’s been holding back, the words he doesn’t want to say. He’s afraid he’s going to lose his sister. He’s afraid this blessing of a nephew won’t ever be held by his mother again. He’s afraid he’s going to lose more of his family, and after so long of being happy and adding to his family instead, he isn’t sure if he can survive any more loss.

“What if-?”

“Don’t,” she whispers, pressing her lips to his shoulder.

“What do we do?”

“Exactly what she asked us to,” she nodded. “She trusted us, Oliver. She wanted us to bring him home, to take care of him while she heals, and then if she’s awake tomorrow we can even take him to see her, but right now we need to do this for her because this is what she needs most. She needs to know he’s taken care of. It’s far better that he’s here with us and surrounded by love than at the hospital in a ward on his own.”

“I know,” he dips his head, resting it against hers. “I just-”

“You’re scared,” she finishes for him. “I am too.”

They hold each other a little tighter, a little closer, and they watch their nephew, the newest baby Queen to join the troop. This isn’t what any of them imagined, but this is what life has thrown them and what they need to survive.

“We need to be careful, though,” Felicity warns lightly, sinking into his embrace. “I think Ava might want to keep him. She says Tommy isn’t cute like this any more.”

“I wouldn’t mind another,” Oliver whispers into the quiet room, his lips still pressed against her hairline.

“We can talk about it when this one’s back with his mom,” Felicity says, squatting to put her empty mug on the floor before she adjusts the baby’s blanket and twines both her arms around Oliver’s waist. “But we will talk about it.”

“Okay,” he murmurs, and she feels the moment when he surrenders his control to her, letting her lead him, hold him, support him as she always does best.

_I am strong when I am on your shoulders;  
You raise me up to more than I can be_


	46. What Matters Most

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Promt: Oliver save one of his children from getting hit by a car by pushing them out of the way and take the hit himself.

He snaps awake to a darkened room, several points catching on his skin as he realised he was snagging tubes that were connected to his arms, one in his chest that drew a ragged gasp from his parted lips. A hand finds his cheek while another settles on his chest, and he knows that touch, he knows it better than he knows his own mind, and he calms beneath it, one thought and one thought over in his head.

“Tommy!” he gasps.

“It’s okay, he’s okay, he’s okay,” Felicity repeats, and his eyes find hers.

His heart is racing, he hears it more in the machines surrounding him, can’t quite catch his breath. “Is he hurt?”

“No, he’s not hurt, he’s okay, he’s at home.”

Not hurt. Okay. Home.

The words have his head back on the pillow, and it’s then that he truly realises that he’s in the hospital. He closes his eyes for a moment to ground himself, and then opens them to the worried blue eyes that search for his, grasping the hand on his cheek and turning to place a kiss to the palm as he sighs heavily in relief.

“He’s okay,” he repeats, to assure himself.

“He’s fine, he’s just a little shaken,” Felicity tells him quietly. “You, on the other hand…”

He watches her, winces a little as she moves to sit on the edge of his bed, and he tries to think back. He remembers his five-year-old slipping out of his grasp, people screaming as a car mounted the sidewalk, desperately, desperately trying to get to Tommy before the car did and—

“Promise me he’s not hurt,” he breathes again, searching her face for any sign that she’s just telling him what he needs to hear to heal.

“I promise,” she tells him, leaning down and pressing her lips to his forehead. “He’s at home, fast asleep, my Mom checked in half an hour ago. He’s got a graze on his knee from hitting the ground, but it’s not bothering him. He’s just been worried about you.”

Good. Good, that means he got him out of the path of the car. “Oh, thank god,” he muttered.

“They’re calling you Father of the Year on the news,” she tells him pointedly. He frowns a little, then she elaborates. “The CCTV footage from the store you were coming out of shows you pushing Tommy out of the path of the car and taking the full hit yourself.” That’s it, that’s why she looks concerned even though their son is safe home in bed. “But I’m not going to rant about personal safety.”

He tightens his eyes in the wince. “The lecture’s the best part,” he half teases, but it ends in a cough that splits pain through his entire chest.

“Whoa, easy there,” she soothes. “You’ve got a lot of broken ribs and one punctured lung,” she tells him, and he’s suddenly very aware of the drain in his chest. “The car slammed into you pretty hard, you were lucky you didn’t–”

Her voice catches, and he tugs her hand back down again, drawing her close to him in any way that he can. “Tommy’s okay, that’s the most important thing.”

“You being okay is important too,” she insists, and he can hear how exhausted she sounds now, the break in her voice betraying her as she uses her free hand to wipe at her cheeks. “God, Oliver, Captain Lance pulled me out of a meeting and said there’d been an accident, he asked me if I’d seen the news at all, and that you and Tommy were at the hospital, and then I saw my phone and I had all these missed calls and messages asking me if you were okay, and then one from Thea to say she’d gone to the hospital and that she had Tommy and that you were in surgery and I…” she sagged, her body rolling forward until her head was carefully placed on his shoulder.

He moves his injured body as best he can, cradling her to him as she takes several loud breaths to calm herself. “I’ll be okay,” he whispers into her ear. “Tommy’s okay, I’ll be okay.”

“Tommy’s okay,” she repeats, and he can hear the tears in her tone that make his throat tighter. “God, Oliver, if you’d been a second later…”

“I wasn’t,” he stops her. “He’s okay. He’s at home in bed…where you should be,” he adds, coming back her hair as she lifts her head.

She shakes herself. “No. I’m staying here tonight,” she tells him, her hand on his cheek again as she sits up, and he leans into it because her touch is, quite simply, one of his three favourite things in the world, tied with his daughter’s laugh and his son’s smile.

“Felicity…” he whispers, but she cuts him off with a chaste kiss, so innocent that it makes his eyes flicker closed for moment.

“The kids are sleeping, my Mom’s staying with them and taking them to school in the morning, so I’m staying,” she insists.

“Okay,” he nods lightly, knowing he can’t argue with her when she’s made up her mind.

She leans down to him again, and this time her kiss is firmer, it lingers, and he clings to it, chasing her as much as she can when she pulls back again. “Thank you,” she whispers, and he feels the brush of her blonde hair against his neck, the press of her tears to his cheeks.

“For what?” he asks gently.

“For being here instead of Tommy,” she murmurs. “I love you so much, Oliver. I hate seeing you like this, I really do, but I’d much rather be here with you then have Tommy be here.”

“Me too,” he agrees, because what’s bumps and bruises to him would have been a death sentence to his son and that doesn’t bear thinking about. “How long do I need to stay here?”

“Couple of days,” she sniffs against him.

“Okay, stay tonight,” he whispers. “Stay tonight, and tomorrow, go be with the kids. Put them to bed, them come back after if your mom will take them again. Then when I get out of here, we’ll spend a day with the kids watching movies in bed. What do you think?”

“I think they’ll really like that,” she says with a breath, adjusting on his good side so she can lay down next to him in the small bed, tucked against his side.

He wants to stay awake longer. He wants to tell her that he loves her, that he loves their wonderful kids, and that the idea of his son sleeping at home in his own bed is absolutely worth the dull pain in his chest, but the painkillers they’ve loaded into his body is winning, and his eyes fall closed in the embrace of his wife.

He wakes late the next morning to tiny fingers playing with his hand, and opens his eyes to the little boy who refused to go to school until he’d seen his dad first.


	47. Permission Slip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: WOW!! It’s MMDay?? LOL So… what if Olicity will pick Ava and Tommy on school and and the teacher says “They left with their grandfather, mr. Merlyn!"Have a nice day, hon!

“Merlyn!”

“I was wondering when you’d come over.”

“You took my kids out of school?”

“Nice to see you too, I’ve had a great time on my travels, thank you for asking.”

“You took my kids out of school?!”

“Thea took the children out of school, because it was the end of the school day.”

“Thea was supposed to pick them up at three-thirty, not the middle of the day.”

“Thea was running errands and I thought I’d help her out-”

“How did you even get them off the premises? We have safe contacts for this exact reasons and you’re not one of them.”

“A smile and a donation cheque can get you a long way.”

“Let me get this straight, you wrote a cheque to get my kids out of school?”

“You’re angry.”

“No, angry is what I was when the school called me to ask if I wanted to add the kids grandfather to the pick-up list, now? I’m furious.”

“Well-”

“You aren’t their grandfather, Malcolm!”

“I’m Thea’s father.”

“Not mine.”

“I’m the closest you have.”

“My kids have a grandparent.”

“Who does a stellar job, I must say, I’ve been rivetted by the stories of ‘gramma Smoak’, but being  a grandfather is a simple joy of life, Oliver-”

“Then you’ll enjoy it when Thea has kids, but you don’t get to do it with mine.”

“Oliver-”

“Did you know Felicity thought they’d been kidnapped? She didn’t know it was you straight away and she drove to the school to find out who had taken the kids off site? Did you even think what a phone call like that would do to us?”

“I would never cause harm to those children.”

“To my children.”

“You can spare me the protective father instincts, Oliver, I’m not afraid of you.”

“You took my kids without my permission. You should be afraid of me.”

“Ava and Tommy have had a nutritional meal, and they’re sat doing their homework.”

“…Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“You got Tommy to do his homework.”

“He’s remarkably like his namesake, Oliver, you should try sitting with him sometime.”

“I do sit with him!”

“Then maybe he’s not the only one who needs science tutoring.”


	48. When I Couldn't Reach You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: I really want some Mama Felicity and Ava!!
> 
> The too evil to share idea: Ava goes off to college. She goes to a party. She has a drink and there are date rape drugs involved. The prompt is for the aftermath of it. Either in hospital waking up, the trial, waking up at the party house, maybe not able to accept hugs from Tommy or her dad… acheaptrickandacheesyoneline
> 
> Note: TRIGGER WARNINGS. SUBJECT MATTER IN THE PROMPT ABOVE. 
> 
> Note: In the kindest way possible….choke on this.

There are some things that shape your life forever. Life, at the end of all things, is a series of days that change everything, a selection of moments where everything burst forward or was brought to a grinding halt.

For Felicity, these days are obvious. The day her father left. The day she got accepted to M.I.T. The day she started at Queen Consolidated. The day she met Oliver. The day she met the Arrow. The day she went to Lian Yu to bring him home. The first time they kissed. The day they united in Nanda Parbat. The day he chose her. The day he proposed. The day they married. The birth of their daughter. The birth of their son. The birth of their second daughter.

Many are happy. Few are sad. All have changed her forever.

Then she gets a call a midnight phone call from her eighteen-year-old son, and everything changes.

–

_“Oliver, it’s me. I know you’ll get this when you’re back in for the night, and I know I said I wasn’t going to bother you the whole time you were in Central City, but it’s an emergency. You need to come home, and it needs to be right now so get Barry to bring you. Wait, no I’m not going to be at home. Tommy called me, I don’t know if he left a message with you too but I spoke to him and I’m on my way to the hospital now. I just need you to go back, I forgot Blankie. Just please go and get Blankie, Tommy says she needs it, she’s been asking for it. Please can you stop by home and get it first? I’m already hitting traffic on the freeway, I can’t go back for it and she needs me there. Please call me as soon as you’re on your way. Just…call me, please, I don’t know how to handle this.”_

–

“Mom!”

The emergency room of Starling General is packed full on a Saturday night, and somewhere in the mass of head wounds, drunken idiots and fevered children are her frightened teenagers. She’s been here with these two many times, and as she made her way to the reception desk she remembers being here the time Ava fell down the stairs, the time Tommy had his first allergic reaction, the time they ran into each other so hard neither of their nosebleeds would stop for six hours.

She bypasses the desk entirely when she spots her son’s head sticking out from the doorway you have to be specifically allowed through and as soon as the door slams closed behind her she has her hands on his face. “Are you okay?”

“I just found her, Mom, I’m so sorry-”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know,” he shakes his head. “I got this call that something wasn’t right and she wanted me to come pick her up because she didn’t want to wake you and then she was slurring and then the phone cut out but I was halfway there and I know I should have called you but you said not to drive and talk on the phone and then we got here and she kept saying she wanted you and she wanted her blanket and I don’t know why but-”

“Shh, honey,” she strokes his hair. He’s half a foot taller than her now but that doesn’t stop her. He’s a less bulky version of his father but he’s still her little boy. “Where is she?”

“Mrs. Queen?”

Her head turns as the doctor approaches them, and Felicity’s hands drop from Tommy’s face, hanging at her side as she takes in the grave expression on the elder woman’s face. In her mind she’s wanting to see a nurse, or an orderly of a lower rank who’s going to tell her that this is a mistake and they can take Ava home, but suddenly she realises what the situation is and she isn’t sure she can do this alone.

“Can we speak in private?”

“Can I just see her?” Felicity breathes longingly. “Please? My husbands on his way, I just want to see her first-”

“I’m afraid we do need to speak before you can see your daughter, Mrs. Queen.”

She’s processing those words when she hears her name and a warm grip on her shoulder and Oliver’s there, wind-blown with a green knot of checkered-knit blanket in his grasp. She can’t imagine what he must have looked like walking through the emergency waiting room with that around his fist.

–

They do have to speak in private before they’re allowed to see Ava.

When they hear what the doctor has to tell them, Felicity understands why.

–

Physical assault. Possible sexual assault. Rohypnol found in her blood work which caused the seizure her brother found her during. Memory loss.

The nurse continues with other symptoms of rohypnol intake that she’s experiencing, how to keep the lights dimmed to help the light sensitivity, to be mindful of the muscle pain, but they don’t hear anything after the word ‘assault’, that they’re keeping her in a room on her own because of her hesitance to–

“Wait, she’s on her own?” Suddenly Felicity can breath again, can move again, and she’s on her feet, letting go of Oliver’s hand. “Why the hell did you leave her on her own? Where is she?”

–

Nothing prepares her for the sight of her daughter curled up in a hospital bed, hollow-eyed and shattered beyond repair. Had she not been so desperate to hold her daughter she’d have needed to stop for breath, to regain herself at the sight because this terrified, broken young woman can’t possibly be the little girl who used to line up her dolls as a dance audience, the girl who spilled an entire box of cereal in a circle around her and still tried to blame the dog, the girl who presented her business plan for Queen Incorporated as her third grade show-and-tell.

“Oh, baby girl,” she whispers as she approaches the bedside and doesn’t even hesitate to place her hand on her daughter’s hair.

Ava’s eyes flicker to recognition - Oliver’s eyes, piercing blue and now with his own dangerous hint of despair darkening them - and she leans her head towards Felicity. She seeks her out with a pained whisper of “Mom?” that brings tears to Felicity’s cheeks and sobs from her daughter.

Oliver stands behind Ava, lays her childhood loved Blankie over her shoulders, and almost bites through his lip when she flinches under his touch.

–

Oliver spends a gruelling hour and thirty six minutes sat outside the room with Tommy while the specialist nurses carry out a rape kit. He holds his son’s hands, both of them gripped between his in the same way he had done on the first day of school when he told him that he had nothing to be afraid of right before he followed his sister into the playground. He holds his sons hands because it stops him going out and committing murder.

His daughter. His little girl. That tiny creature that came into this world screaming and pink and perfect. The little princess who would fall asleep on his chest. The little girl he stayed at home with every day because she is his absolute world, even now. One of three perfect additions to his life, the three things that darkness has never touched. Until now.

“Oh god,” Oliver mutters, reaching for his phone when he realises they are a person missing.

“I text her,” Tommy tells him quietly. “She’s staying at Sara’s anyway tonight, so I told her something came up and to stay there until we tell her that we’re home.”

His son, so organised, so level-headed, so Felicity. Oliver drops his head down with a sigh, at least his youngest daughter is sleeping in a safe bed tonight.

“Dad, what happens now?” Tommy asks.

“I don’t know,” Oliver confesses.

“How badly is she hurt?”

“We don’t know yet,” he repeats. “But whatever this is, we are going to get her through this, and we are going to do this as a family, whatever she needs.”

It’s that thought which is stopping him going to the police station where they’ve been told the boy who did this has been arrested and is being charged. It’s that thought which is stopping him tearing out his heart with his bare hands because no one - no one - touches his daughter and lives.

“I should have gotten there faster,” Tommy says quietly. “Dad, I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t,” Oliver cuts him off, his hand coming down on his son’s back. “No, she called you and you came when she needed you to, and that is what we do for family. Tonight is a terrible night, and a terrible thing may have happened to your sister, but you did everything you were supposed to do.”

Tommy shakes his head firmly. “I should have called you and mom straight away, I should have-”

“You would have wasted time,” Oliver reminds him softly, turning as much as he can in the uncomfortable chairs to look at his son. “Tommy, look at me.” He does, and all he can see is that tiny boy who was afraid of the dark. This is a darkness Oliver never wanted him to see. “You did the right thing. She needed you and you went straight to her, and when you saw she was hurt you brought her to the hospital.” His hand slips up to grip the back of his neck reassuringly. “You did exactly what you were supposed to do, and I am so proud of you for that. I am so proud that my son is a good man, and I know that my daughters are safer because they have their brother to protect them when I can’t.”

Tommy’s head ducks down, and Oliver feels his hand shaking in his grasp. He squeezes his son shoulder and reaches for the wallet shoved into his back pocket. “Go get yourself something to drink,” he tells him. “Something with sugar, before you collapse.”

Tommy stands up, and no sooner is he stepping out into the main waiting area, the door to Ava’s room opens and Felicity steps out alone. Oliver can see her collapse before her knees even start to shake and he’s on his feet, his arms around her the only thing keeping her up as she dissolves into tears against him. He can’t tell her it’s okay, he can’t tell her there’s nothing to worry about, because Ava is the first thing in the world that belonged solely to them, the first thing they loved more than they loved each other, and she is still their baby.

“God, Oliver,” she cries into his chest, and he holds her because that’s all he can do until her moment passes, this moment she needs to break, and god, he can’t imagine how strong she’s had to be for the past two hours he wasn’t allowed in that room.

“Did they say anything?” he chokes out. “Is she-?” Okay? How can he ask that? He swallows the word before he can speak it.

She wipes her cheeks as she nods, her arms wrapping around herself, and rather than let her close off he strokes the tops of his arms. He wants to go to his daughter, wants to hold his little girl, but until he can, he contents himself with holding onto the woman who gave his children life. “They uh…they went through her history, her whole history and uhh..our daughter’s not been a virgin for two years, apparently her and Andy had a ‘thing’,” she scoffs, and Oliver shakes his head almost in disbelief that they even consider that an issue right now. “She doesn’t think she was…she started remembering during the exam, because they had to take swabs and samples of everything, they even took a sample of her hair and inside her mouth in case…” she shuts her eyes tightly, her jaw shaking until Oliver’s grip steadies her. “They’ve already taken her clothes, but she doesn’t…her shirt was torn but she remembers that happening before she blacked out, but she doesn’t feel like anything…happened tonight.”

“But they’re doing the tests?” he mutters.

Felicity nods again. “Just in case…they won’t be ready until the morning. I said we’d get Caitlin to speed it up but Ava said no,” she sighs. “She doesn’t want anyone to know what happened until we know for sure.”

“So she’s…?”

She bites at her lip. “I think she’s okay,” she breathes out hesitantly, as if the head might be too much to hope for, but the relief hits them both like a truck. “She’s shaken and jumpy but I think she’s going to be okay.”

He pulls her into his arms again, and this time, they both shed tears.

–

They don’t sleep, but Ava does. They offer her something to help her sleep, but she has been drugged once already that night and she doesn’t want that again. Her defiance of medication is so much like her father, who leans against the foot of her bed as she sleeps, watching her the same way he used to keep watch over her crib when she was a babe. She sleep wrapped in the arms of her mother with that ever-favoured Blankie shrouded around her.

In the presence of some hope, Oliver almost smiles at the sight. Blankie is the second version of the green knitted blanket they brought her home from the hospital in. It it’s the fabric that was torn and replaced with ‘magic laundry powder’ when it was torn in half, but now Blankie is faded from years of embracing and washing and the green has faded to a soft mint colour and the edges are frayed. Only one corner of silk remains in the corner that Ava links between her fingers to remind herself that it’s there, as if she’s clinging to a part of her childhood she’ll never get back after this.

Felicity’s laid precautiously on the side of the bed, Ava’s head buried against her while she wraps her arms around her daughter. Oliver remembers this sight from his beautiful, clumsy toddler curling into her mother’s embrace. Felicity’s face is still, staring at a spot behind her daughter as if in a zone, but she strokes her hair rhythmically, combing out the curls that she’d put in place for the party.

In the corner of the room, Tommy’s resisting sleep in an uncomfortable chair. Since he’d brought his car, they’d tried to get him to go home, or to go Sara Diggle’s where their younger daughter was staying, but he refused. He’d been here first with Ava, and he wanted to stay now. Eventually, when Ava’s eyes had closed they had stopped trying to tell each other to rest.

–

Ava bursts awake just before the sun starts to rise, painfully grasping Felicity’s arm and looking around her wildly with her chest heaving until she settles under her mother’s soft touch on her cheek and her father’s on her arm. She bites at her lips before her stomach jolts, and after some fumbling between them all she heaves the contents of her stomach into a nearby cardboard dish. None of them are surprised, given what was working its way out of her system.

“He didn’t…I remember,” she says, shaking her head as she catches her breath. “I remember fighting him, and he…he didn’t do it. He didn’t touch me. I remember.”

Oliver doesn’t feel her flinch when he furiously wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her head. “Ava…”

She looks up at him, meeting his eyes for the first time. This is his baby girl, and he can remember the two of them sitting beside their daughter on the bathroom floor while she got sick during the night when she was seven years old and she cried that she wouldn’t be able to go to the library the next day because of it, and at seven years old, that was the saddest thing she’d been able to imagine. Now, this is still his baby girl, even if she is a few weeks short of her twentieth birthday.

“Thank you for bringing Blankie, Dad,” she whispers to him.

“Thank your mother,” he tells her with a watery smile, and so what if he’s about to cry? Ava’s the first good thing he brought into this world. “She remembered. You know I always forget it.”


	49. Someday When You're Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Felicity (from the future) accidentally travels back in time to S4, a mistake from Barry? And she’s holding a baby boy. : ) thank you and I love your stories!
> 
> orangeisorange said: Prompt: Olicity from the future aka Olicity that has Ava and Tommy get transported back in time to Olicity season 2 or 3.
> 
> Note: I’m not entirely sure what season to set this in, but they are trying to decide whether or not they can do this ‘couple’ thing.

“Of course I love you, Felicity, I just don’t…”

Her chin almost slams down against her chest with the ferocity in which disappointment hits her. The resignation drags her down so visibly that he even sighs loud enough that she can hear it over the sound of the voice in the back of her head. There’s always a ‘but’ with Oliver, always a reason that they can’t be together - so much so that they can scream to high heaven about how much they love each other but there will always be a reason why he won’t do anything with it.

“Don’t…?” she prompts.

He remains silent, his head bowed and resting on his fingertips. The foundry is silent save for a few distant beeps coming from the computer. This silence tells her everything.

“You don’t want to do this, do you?” she realises.

“I want to, Felicity, but-”

“Right,” she says, her voice tight as she stands up from where she was sat beside him, needing space, needing air, needing something that he’s decided that she doesn’t deserve.

His hand flies out to catch her wrist. “Felicity-”

“You have to let me go, Oliver,” she tells him, her arm behind her in his grasp but she can’t bear to turn and look at him. “If you can’t do this, then all of this, the touching, the moments, it all has to stop because I can’t keep doing this…”

“I love-”

“Don’t tell me you love me if you’re not in this,” she insists, shaking her head and shutting her eyes. “Don’t do that to me.”

“Felicity, please.”

She hears him move, he’s standing now, right behind her, his chest barely grazing her back, and god, what would it be like to be able to lean back against him and have him draw her into his arms, those damn arms…

“Please, open your eyes.”

“Oliver, stop it-”

“No, you need to open your eyes, now.”

His voice is firmer this time, and dare she say it, his grip on her is more protective. Her brow furrows before her eyes flicker open, and then she sees what has granted his concern. She stares for a long moment because her brain can’t keep up with the sight, then she realises what it is they’re staring at.

There’s a little boy wandering around her computer station.

“Is that-?”

“How did he-?”

“Tommy!” a voice calls in a loud whisper, a flash of blonde moving in front of them and going over to his side, expert hands moving over the keyboards to erase the damage he almost did with one key. “What did I tell you? You can’t touch anything here.”

“But momma-”

“No ‘but momma’", the woman says with a hint of sternness in her tone. “We just need to wait here until Uncle Barry comes back to get us.”

“Felicity…” Oliver says, her name a breathy whisper against the back of her neck, but she’s not sure which version of her that he’s directed at.

Because the woman over there with the little boy is her.

A little fuller in the chest, some extra curves on the waist, hair a little shorter, but it’s her.

“How…” she whispers, stepping back entirely against Oliver’s chest.

The other Felicity looks up, spots them, and her eyes widen. “Oh, frack…”

–

“So let me get this straight…” Oliver says as he ran his hand over his face. “You’re from the future, and Barry can travel back in time?”

“And forward in time,” Future Felicity says, still nibbling on her lip. Felicity hasn’t spoken since she started explaining because it was all she could do to collapse into the nearest chair, but Oliver hasn’t let go of her hand since and that’s all she can feel through the numbness of this moment. “It’s complicated.”

“Tell me about it,” Oliver mutters, then addresses the elephant in the room - or rather, the boy wearing the elephant print t-shirt that hasn’t stopped staring at him. “So, in the future, Felicity has…uh…you have a family.”

“I do,” Future Felicity nods, her hand stroking over the boy’s hair. “He’s number two of three. This one’s four, his sister’s seven, and well…number three only appeared on the scan a few weeks ago. We’re not really telling anyone yet, but I suppose you guys are an exception for obvious reasons.”

“I’m happy for you,” he nods.

Felicity feels his grip tighten, as if he’s preparing to let her go for good, now that he sees what her future holds. Because she knows that this isn’t a future that he sees for himself, and that’s what got them into this argument in the first place. She doesn’t say anything, she’s too busy staring at the little boy that will one day be hers, looking at the ease in which her other self tucks him into her lap and how he gravitates into her. This is her second child. She has a daughter too. She’s looking at a pregnant version of herself and she doesn’t look terrified, she looks happy…content.

“Momma,” the boy looks up and whispers. “Where’s Daddy’s scar?”

The room goes still as Future Felicity ducks her head to him. “He doesn’t have it yet. Remember? He got it after you were born.” She raises her head with an apologetic look at Oliver. “Sorry, he’s not used to you without it. You have a uh…” she raises her hand, tracing the corner of her jaw. “You have a scar here in our time, he would have been too young to remember you without it.”

Felicity’s mouth goes dry, and she’s fairly certain that her fingernails are painful in his palm. Oliver swallows audibly. “Wait, I’m his…?”

Future Felicity nods. “Look, Barry explains it that when we randomly time jump like this, we find ourselves going back to moments that mattered, or moments that things could have drastically changed.”

Felicity’s very certain that things will forever change after this moment. It it’s even real.

“Let me guess, you’re having the ‘we can’t be together’ talk?” Future Felicity assumes. Oliver ducks his head, which is enough of an answer on both their behalf. “You get through it, okay? With help. But you have to stop being terrified of it, both of you, because this?” She gestures to the boy she’s holding. “This is so worth it, and you still have all of this to look forward to.”

“Oliver,” Felicity whispers, her eyes drawn to him until her future self is placing her hand on her leg.

“You’re good at this,” she tells her younger self. “You’re going to worry about it, but you’re both good at this. Trust me, the first time you’re going to spend the whole time terrified, but the first time you hold her everything’s going to change, and then you get this one,” the boy looks up and Future Felicity kisses his forehead. When he smiles, they both see the hint of Oliver in him. “You’re happy, okay? You’re thinking now that this life won’t be enough for you, but it is. I don’t want to spoil all of it, but this really is the best thing that ever happens to you. Just figure out your stuff now, and trust me, it’s going to work.”

There’s a flash - literally - on the far side of the foundry, and then a slightly older version of Barry is standing at their side. “Oh god,” he says as he sees the younger Oliver and Felicity staring at him. “This is not good.”

“Relax,” Future Felicity says, standing and lifting her son onto her hip. “Right, you two obviously need to talk and I need to get home and start dinner.” The silence is awkward and she screws up her face. “That’s a lie, obviously. I am not the person who cooks.”

Before they can say another word, the red streak rushes past them and all of them are gone, leaving Oliver and Felicity are left alone.

Neither move.

Neither speak.

Neither even breathe for a few moments.

“…what the hell just happened?”


	50. Naughty Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Ava’s first time out dialogue

“I can’t believe we’re doing this, Oliver.”

“Do you hate yourself right now or is it just me?”

“I feel sick.”

“Is she going to cry the whole time?”

“I just want to go and hug her.”

“She’s going to hate us after this. Whose idea was this?”

“Supernanny’s.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t get naughty-stepped as a kid and I–”

“Do you really have to finish that sentence?”

“You’re right.”

“We can handle this.”

“It’s just four minutes, right?”

“Right. One minute for every year of her age.”

“This is a terrible idea.”

“No, apparently this really works.”

“We’re doing the right thing, aren’t we?”

“Sure, I mean we can’t accept her being naughty…this is a parenting thing, discipline. We have to do this, don’t we?”

“Right.”

“But I didn’t realise she’d cry the entire time.”

“So what do we do when the four minutes are up?”

“Exactly what it says in the book.”

“You threw the book out of the window, Felicity.”

“It made me feel like a bad mother.”

“You’re not a bad mother.”

“But it said it’s important for us to sit together and eat a family meal.”

“That’s not the most important part of parenting.”

“We never sit down for a family dinner.”

“We do at the weekends.”

“On the living room floor. Like a picnic.”

“And I guarantee you, Ava enjoys that a lot more than she’d enjoy sitting up at the table every night.”

“Well, this is only the first time she’s been naughty, right? We don’t have an all-over naughty kid?”

“Course not, it’s just a one time thing.”

“Right…I prefer the fun parts of parenting.”

“So do I. Remember when we thought the diapers were going to be the worst thing?”

“Or the screaming all hours of the night?”

“What about that time she emptied half the tin of formula powder onto the table and tried to build a snowman out of it?”

“Not as bad as when she got into my make up.”

“I really liked that lipstick on you….not so much on the walls.”

“There was that time she tried to ride her rocking horse down the stairs.”

“Oh, that was one hell of an emergency room trip.”

“I still don’t think they believed us when we told them how she did it.”

“I don’t even think Diggle believed it.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

“I still think it was worse when she took a shit in the bathtub.”

“It wasn’t that bad, Oliver.”

“You say that because it was your night on bath duty.”

“What about the time you went to Central City and I was here with her alone?”

“Felicity, that was…”

“Two words for you, mister. Explosive diarrhea.”

“She was sick.”

“Explosive, Oliver.”

“Was it really that bad?”

“Put it this way, she crapped all over one of your hoodies, but I washed it before you got home.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Which one?”

“You’ll never know.”

“That’s really mean.”

“I know, I’m a mean wife and a mean mother.”

“Okay, this Supernanny book is the last parenting book you’re ever buying.”

“Well, it’s helps.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Listen.”

“….nothing.”

“She’s not crying.”

“And that’s the timer.”

“Okay, let’s get this over with.”


	51. Back To Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Olicity prompt: Tommy, Ava, Oliver and Felicity having a movie night, just lots of family fluff and of course Olicity fluff!! :) love your work BTW!!!
> 
> Anonymous said: I would really like to read about that cozy movie day with the kids Felicity promised Oliver after he got out of the hospital.

“Jurassic Park!”

“Finding Nemo!”

“Jurassic Park!”

“Finding Nemo!”

“Dad!”

“Momma!”

“Guys,” Felicity interrupts the squabbling children when she comes back into the bedroom. She’s carrying their third bowl of popcorn for the day. “Did you guys take a bath in naughty water?” she asks them. “Because I put my two good children in the tub, and two bad children seem to have come out shouting and arguing.”

They pout, and the two children sit on the end of the end of the bed surrounded by DVD cases that they’ve occupied themselves with since mid-morning when Oliver came home from the hospital. He’d been in the hospital for three days after being hit by a car saving his son, and he was relieved to be back at home with his family. They’ve spent the day watching movies and relaxing in the master bedroom of their home, Oliver propped up on as many pillows as Felicity can fit behind him, and the kids alternating between lying on their stomachs at the end of the bed and playing on the floor with the multitude of toys they’ve brought in throughout the day.

But then Felicity let him watch an hour of sports while she bathed the kids and put them into fresh pyjamas for the night, and now they’re starting to get tired and grumpy as bedtime looms on them. The last movie of the night is the current argument.

“Momma, it’s my turn,” Tommy whines as he looks up at Felicity with his wide eyes.

“No, it’s my turn!” Ava insists, flipping her damp hair over her shoulder.

“You’re both wrong, because it’s Dad’s turn,” Felicity tells them both, and they both turn to Oliver and turns to him and crawl up the bed, turning their barrage of arguing onto him as they try to convince him into their favourite movie.

“Dad wants to watch Big Hero 6,” Oliver decides, and the two children look at each other with a realisation that they’re happy with this choice, and scurry away to load up the movie.

In the meantime, Felicity slipped into the bed beside him, shrugging off her robe to reveal a pair of boy-shorts and one of his own shirts as her pyjamas for the night. Years ago, he’d have reached for her, pulled her against him and settled with the instant ease that only comes from embracing the woman you love, but now they have their family and things work a little differently. When he turns to him, she holds up a hairbrush and a large pot of cream, arching an eyebrow.

“Pick a kid,” she announces. “You want the hair braiding or the eczema?”

He just smiles at her, taking the cream and calling the kids over to them.

Ava places herself on Felicity’s lap with an unceremonious flop as the movie begins, and Felicity braids her hair with an expert flick of her fingers through the curls. Tommy hesitates mid-crawl over to Oliver though, the six-year-old frozen in place with a cautious look at his father.

“It’s okay,” Oliver assures him. “You’re not going to hurt me.”

Tommy waits for another second, then carefully sits down in Oliver’s lap, facing him with his arms out. Oliver carefully rubs the medicated cream into the angry dry skin, something that causes him irritation for most of the day, and makes sure to cover all the spots on his arms and behind his knees that are flaring up at the moment. When he’s done, he presses a kiss to his son’s forehead.

“You’re quiet today, buddy. You okay?”

Tommy nods, but when he curls himself into Oliver’s good side in a way he hasn’t done since he was a toddler, Oliver knows he isn’t, and holds him as tightly as he needs.

Later, both the kids are sprawled asleep across their parents laps, and Oliver’s head leans back against one of the pillows. He opens his eyes when he feels fingertips against his forehead, and he turns to see Felicity watching him with a soft smile. “Sorry,” she whispers as not to wake the kids. “Just checking to see if you need any painkillers?”

He shakes his head. “I’m comfortable,” he assures her, bringing her hand down to his lips so he can kiss her palm. “Glad to be home.”

“Glad to have you home,” she murmurs, leaning her head across so her lips can graze his. “Want me to put these two to bed?”

He shakes his head. “Let them stay,” he whispers into her kiss. “I want my family.”


	52. Once More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> obsessionsaremylife said: WAIT THERE’S A BABY NUMBER THREE?? OMG PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WRITE THAT STORY PLEASE!!! I LIVE FOR YOUR AVA AND TOMMY QUEEN FICS!! xD
> 
> orangeisorange said: Prompt: Baby number three!!
> 
> kebarr said: I got an idea from that image Stephen posted with Mavi in her car seat at the airport. I noticed she had cute little pigtails. So I’m requesting, a prompt where Oliver fixes his daughters hair into cute pigtails. :)

“Okay, how’s that?”

“They’re wonky, Daddy.”

He can’t win. He’s been attempting it for at least twenty minutes now, but it’s surprisingly hard to get pigtails to match up. It doesn’t help that Ava’s got thick hair like her mother which is far harder to control, especially when it’s freshly clean and escaping his fingers. The way it slips between his digits reminds him of the time Felicity surprised him with a silk nightgown and he surprised her with satin sheets - and it ended with her very un-seductively slipping straight off the bed and onto the floor.

“What are you smiling at, Daddy?”

He recovered quickly. “You, sweetie. Right, one more try, then it’s just the one braid for tonight.”

“One more try, then we let Mom do it,” Ava corrects him.

“Probably,” he mutters under his breath as he focuses entirely on his seven-year-old’s hair. “Lucky for us, I think I’ve got it right this time,” he announces, sitting back and handing her the mirror again. “What do you think?”

Ava looks at her reflection, tilting her head and then propping the reflective glass on her knees while she measures distances with her hands. After a few moments she gives a satisfactory nod which sends the pigtails swinging. “5 stars, would recommend,” she nods approvingly.

He lifts her from her seat on the ground, holding her above his head on the couch through her wild giggles. After, he sat her down in the space next to him. “Remember when we talked that you’re too young to be giving Amazon reviews, Ava?”

She gives him a serious look. “People depend on me to tell them that the toys are good,” she tells him.

“Does Mom know you’re using her Amazon account?”

“Mommy isn’t as good at passwords as she thinks she is,” Ava says triumphantly, which causes Oliver’s eyebrows to shoot through the roof.

He’s caught up in the wonder that his seven-year-old has managed to crack Felicity’s fifth attempt at keeping her out of her Amazon account when a thought occurs to him. “You signed us up for Amazon Prime, didn’t you?” he realises.

Her head whips around, two pigtails slapping around her neck with the force. Her moment of being caught out was quickly covered by an indignant look. “Don’t be silly, Daddy. I’m not old enough to accept the terms and condiments.”

“Conditions,” he corrects her, realising that she’s proved her point but he’s entirely certain that she might just be an evil genius, and they definitely need another new Amazon password, even though Prime is really convenient.

A whirlwind of Ninja Turtles pyjamas runs through the room and lands in his lap, tearing a groan from his lips because he’s not as solid as everyone thinks he is, and his four-year-old’s kneecaps are definitely as solid as he thinks they are, especially when they come into contact with his groin.

“Hi, Daddy,” he chirps without care.

“Tommy, you gotta stop jumping on Daddy,” he mumbles, tickling his son’s stomach until he was laying with his spine alone Oliver’s thighs and his head hanging off the couch over his knees. “Dad’s getting too old to be jumped on.”

“Yeah, you are,” Tommy giggles, grabbing onto Oliver’s cheeks. “Your chin looks like Santa’s,” he laughs wildly at his own observation.

“Hey!” Oliver protests. He’d gained a few silver hairs in his stubble, but apparently his son was too young to understand the difference between dignified and old. In retaliation he stands up, throwing Tommy over his shoulder and dangling him upside down. “That’s it, let’s go tell Mommy that we’re going to the pet store and swapping Tommy for a real turtle.”

“No!” Tommy shrieks through his laughter.

“Yes! No, wait, let’s get an iguana,” Ava agrees, leaning over the back of the couch.

“Where is your mother anyway?” he asks, as he set his red-faced giggling son on the couch beside his sister. He braces his hands on the back of the couch, leaning down over their beaming faces. This, he loves. Two of the three loves of his life gazing up at him with a happiness so pure it was almost unthinkable that such beaming faces had been created from him.

“She’s in the bathroom still,” Tommy says. “She said she had to do something and to come down here to you until she was done. I thought she was pooping, but I listened at the door and didn’t hear no pooping.”

Oliver winces, leaning down so he is balancing on his forearms and looking at his son. “Tommy, listen to me. You’ve got to stop trying to listen to people pooping.”

He just grins in response, and then his face lights up in realisation. “Oh! and Mommy said I’m supposed to tell you that you need to go upstairs to the bathroom to see her.”

“Oh yeah?” Oliver asks, leaning in so the tip of his nose is touching Tommy’s. Tommy nods, brushing their noses together. Eskimo kisses, Felicity calls them. “You better tell me then, hadn’t you?”

“Daddy, go see Mommy,” Tommy giggles.

“Okay, you guys be good,” he tells them. “No climbing for the candy, we moved it, it’s not in the cabinet anymore.”

Ava slumps in defeat. “Can we watch TV?”

“You can watch one episode of the Simpsons, then I want books before bedtime,” he calls over his shoulder as he heads to the staircase.

Upstairs, he’s just about to knock on the bathroom door when it’s yanked open and Felicity’s looking at him with a mixture of flushed cheeks and an ashen face. She pulls him inside and locks the door - this isn’t uncommon. With two mobile children the bathroom is the one place they can get some privacy these days. Every semi-serious conversation they have is either hushed over washing the dishes or within the locked bathroom. Last week they wrote out the kids Christmas lists with the shower running so they weren’t overheard.

“Everything okay?” Oliver asks, bringing his hands up to her cheeks.

“Not sure,” she bites at her lip.

His concern mounts into something that’s curling in his stomach. “What is it, are you sick?”

“I thought I was,” she nods. “I figured it was just that stomach bug that Ava brought home from school, but…” she almost bites through her lip this time. “My period’s late.”

Oh.

“…oh,” he breathes out, feeling suddenly deflated as if there’s something tightening in his chest.

“Yeah,” she nods.

“Have you…?”

She pulls him over to the sink, where there are three pregnancy tests lined up on the sink beside her phone open on the countdown timer. Two minutes left. His arm slips around her shoulder as hers slips around his waist, drawing her in against his side.

“We’ve never gotten to do this before,” he mutters with a soft smile, his lips finding the side of her head.

“That’s why I wanted you in here,” she tells him, leaning into his touch.

With Ava and Tommy, they found out at the hospital. The first time around, Felicity had been overworking herself to catch up after their annual anniversary vacation, and had collapsed in the exhaustion - only to be told at the hospital that she was actually six weeks pregnant. With Tommy, she’d been given a urine test before renewing her contraceptive shot and the pregnancy had been picked up then. Besides that, there were no scares, no slip ups, and in ten years of marriage they’ve never sat together and waited for a pregnancy test result before.

They’d tried, when Tommy was two years old, for another baby, but it hadn’t happened. For a year they’d tried, to the point where they were monitoring temperatures and rushing home during lunch breaks to try and conceive, and the stress had been too much. They didn’t want to miss out on the childhoods they’d already brought into this world by focusing so much on another one, and so they’d just stopped trying, deciding that if it was going to happen, then it would happen.

And now it was happening.

“This…exciting and terrifying,” Felicity breaths out, her hand tightening in his shirt before she moves and takes a seat on the edge of the bathtub.

Oliver moves with her, crouching down in front of her. He likes looking up at her from this angle, especially in this position. It’s all to resonating of the night he asked her to marry him. “So, game plan. Three kids, three bedroom house. How do we do this?”

“Oh, that’s the easy part,” she insists, releasing a long breath as she leans down and links her hands with his. “Bedrooms are big enough for two. Baby’s in with us for the start, then if it’s a girl she goes in with Ava, and if it’s a boy, he shares with Tommy.”

His lips curl into a smile. “Got it all figured out, haven’t you?”

“What do you think I was doing while I was waiting for you?” she says pointedly.

“Tommy thought you were pooping,” he deadpans.

She drops her forehead to their clasped hands. “Why is our son obsessed with poop?”

“It’s okay, I told him we’re going to trade him for a pet turtle,” Oliver points out, kissing the top of her head.

“Oh, that’s easier. We’ll definitely have room for another baby then,” she agrees, lifting her head until her lips find his. “So…baby number three.”

“Baby number three,” he repeats, letting out a sigh of utter disbelief, his face washed with that delicate smile that only comes when he contemplates holding his children. “Do you think this one will be as weird as our other two?” he wonders.

“Probably,” she nods. “It’s part of their charm once.”

“Shame this one doesn’t come with free next-day delivery,” he mumbles, and her head snaps up.

“I knew it,” she insisted. “Ava signed up for Prime, didn’t she?”

“We created an evil genius there,” he confirms, and then her phone beeps to signal the end of the timer. They don’t rush up, instead taking a simultaneous breath. “Hey,” he whispers, brushing his lips over her cheek. “Don’t look worried.”

“What if it’s negative?” she asks.

“Then it’s negative,” he mutters. “We still have a beautiful family, two perfect kids…well, two weird kids who are at least ninety-percent perfect,” she huffs out a laugh, the meets his eyes for a shared smile. “Come on, let’s take a look.”

“Can you look?” she tells him.

“You sure?” he asks as he stands.

She nods. “I found out about Ava and Tommy first. This one’s on you,” she says through a deep breath.

He takes a steadying breath of his own as he picks turns over each test in turn. One. Two. Three. He stares them for a long time as his heart stops, and for the moment, he’s the only person in the world that knows this secret. His hand raises, stroking over his face as a disbelieving laugh leaves his lips, and when he pulls away his palm it’s damp.

“Oliver?”

He turns to her, sees his wife - his beautiful, perfect, remarkable wife - gripping the edge of the tub for support. In one movement he has her up in his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist as he holds her to him. Usually this is accompanied by her back pressed against a wall, but today he’s laughing into her neck, uncontrollable happiness bursting from within him and she freezes for a moment before she realises what this means.

“We’re having another baby,” she grins into the top of his head, tightening her arms around him.

“We’re having another baby,” he confirms, and he does spin her once as she squeals before he sets her on her feet. She’s barely steady for a moment before he leans down to kiss her, this woman he loves, this woman who makes him a better man, this woman who gave love to his heart, life to his children. She has given him this life where he is loved, where he has learned that he would taking being Daddy over being anything else in the world.

Speaking of Daddy…

He breaks away from Felicity’s lips when he hears the word being called through the locked door. “What is it?”

“Ava says her pigtails are wonky again, she need you to fix them.”

“Daddy’s busy, Tommy,” Felicity calls through the door. “Go get ready for bed.”

“What are you doing?” Tommy whines through the door.

“We’re pooping. Now, go get ready for bed.”


	53. Marital Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: I want to see a dialogue fic please where Ava is telling Felicity about her first time having sex with her husband and how great it was and there honeymoon. And maybe she is reluctant at first but end up telling Felicity in detail because they are so close and open with that sort of thing.

“Sooo…..”

“Mom, please…”

“I just want to know you had a good time.”

“Yes, we had an amazing time in Bali.”

“That’s…not what I meant.”

“I know, but I’m desperately trying to ignore what you really meant.”

“It’s completely normal for mother and daughter to talk about these things.”

“I think there’s a limit on detail.”

“It’s perfectly normal and entirely healthy to be able to talk about your sex life.”

“Wow, you remind me a lot of Grandma right now.”

“Ava Queen, you take that back right now.”

“Did you ever talk with Grandma about your sex life?”

“She demanded it, actually.”

“I rest my case.”

“We’ve had a good thing going for the last few years where we pretend you’re far more innocent than you actually are for your father’s sake, but now that you’re a married woman I don’t think we can avoid that any more.”

“We couldn’t avoid it in the first place. I’m twenty-six years old.”

“Which is a whole twenty-four years too young for you to get married, according to your father.”

“If Dad had it his way, he’d have chosen my husband for me.”

“Now that you mention it, I remember mention of the word ‘dowry’.”

“Seriously?”

“Relax, honey, he was…very drunk.”

“Look, if it’ll stop you asking, we didn’t exactly have a wedding night.”

“Was it the dress, or the hair?”

“…what?”

“Everyone builds up the wedding night, Ava, but not all couples actually make it to the bridal suite, if you know what I mean.”

“Unfortunately, yes, I do know what you mean.”

“Weddings are the most exhausting days of your life. You’re dragged out of bed and pushed into a shower before the sun’s even risen - not that you sleep to start with - and then it’s four hours of hair and make-up, then the ceremony, and the reception, and then you finally get to the hotel room and you’re far too tired for sex.”

“I just took my shoes off and swear I’d never felt carpet so good.”

“They were pretty shoes.”

“Really pretty shoes. But very evil.”

“How long did it take to get the pins out of your hair?”

“An hour and a half.”

“That’s…”

“Twice as long as it took to put them in, yep. But Andy did it for me, thinking he’d be romantic about it, but he let the top half down first and then he was trying to look through this huge heap of messy hair to get to the pins underneath and we’re still convinced we didn’t get them all.”

“Did you at least make it out of your dress?”

“Obviously.”

“I didn’t.”

“Seriously, mom.”

“I didn’t want to. It laced up at the back, we were both too exhausted to try.”

“Was it even comfortable?”

“Not really, but it was romantic. We had this gorgeous roof terrace and we just fell asleep in one of the deck chairs.”

“Aww, mom.”

“So don’t worry about not having sex on your wedding night.”

“Don’t worry, I think we more than made up with the Bali sex marathon.”

_“Excuse me?”_

“Dad! You’re supposed to be out!”


	54. Our Girl and Hers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Olicity Prompt: Oliver and Felicity reaction when they find out they’re going to be grandparents. Love your writing!

The laptop closes, the room falls into a peace of huffed laughs of disbelief, pure delight filling the room. It’s just the four of them - Felicity, Oliver, John and Lyla - gathered around the couch. The ladies of the couples had taken seat on the couch while the two men stood behind them, leaning over so they could all see the screen while they skyped with their children.

Andy Diggle and Ava Queen were on their honeymoon.

They’d been gone for three weeks so far, touring a few countries but currently in Bali. Of course, Felicity’s daughter has managed to get them enough internet signal to Skype home, because they’d been bursting with excitement and hadn’t been able to wait until they were home to break the news to their families.

They’re having a baby.

Felicity makes quick work after the call ends, printing two copies of the scan picture that Ava had emailed to them and giving one to the Diggle’s while she stands and links her arm around Oliver’s waist and shares the grainy photograph between them.

There it is. Their grandchild.

“Our baby’s having a baby,” Felicity mumbles tearfully.

There’s no denying it now, his little girl isn’t his little any more - how can she be now that he’s having a little boy or girl of her own. This grainy little shape is going to sit on his knee, call him grandpa, this little thing is growing inside his daughter and suddenly the day Felicity and he first saw Ava on a sonogram photo seems so far away.

He has to sit down, his hand crumbling around the edges of the photograph and the arms that loop around his neck both comforting and a reminder that life goes on. Love breeding love. His love for Felicity created Ava, now Ava’s love for Andy creates a new life, binding their families together for always.

Another hand at his shoulder has him glancing up through the choking emotion. “I get it, man,” John tells him with a similar look of amazement. Of course, John gets it. Sara gave them their first grandchild two years ago, so he knows exactly what it means when your little girl becomes a mother.

Instead, entirely different words fall out of his mouth.

“Your son defiled my daughter.”


	55. Not Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> inapop05 said: Prompt: Ava is leaving for college. Oliver, Felicity and Tommy are saying goodbye and maybe Oliver tears up?

“Oliver?”

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“I’m fine, Felicity.”

“Are you just pretending to be okay because you don’t want to talk about it?”

“You’re talking about it.”

“It’s a completely normal thing to do.”

“If it were normal, we’d do it all the time. We don’t do this all the time.”

“Well, no, but we are going to have to do this again someday.”

“She’s not ready.”

“You weren’t ready.”

“It’s not about me, it’s about her.”

“I know.”

“So we don’t need to talk about it.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Felicity, can we not do this while I’m driving?”

“Oliver, it’s just college. Ava’s going to be fine.”

“Just college? There’s no ‘just’ about college.”

“She’s a smart girl, she’s going to be completely fine. She’s going to love it.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“She’s only two hours away, Oliver.”

“Exactly! She’s two hours away! What if she needs us and it takes us a whole two hours to get to her? That’s not acceptable, Felicity.”

“What if she doesn’t need us?”

“I am her father, she is always going to need me.”

“She’s growing up, Oliver.”

“No, she’s not.”

“She has been for a while.”

“She’s a little girl. My little girl.”

“She’s still going to be your little girl, Oliver. Just…a bit further away.”

“I don’t want her to be far away from me.”

“Oliver…”

“Let’s just not talk about it, okay?”

“She’s going to be home in three weeks.”

“We’ve never been away from her for three weeks.”

“…Oliver, are you crying?”

“No.”

“Your face is wet.”

“I’m sweating, the car is hot.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I’m not crying.”

“You’re crying.”

“I just dropped my baby girl off at college, Felicity.”

“So did I.”

“Are you crying?”

“Of course, I’m crying.”

“Felicity-”

“I swear, she was learning to walk yesterday. How did she get to college age already? It’s not fair. She wasn’t little for long enough.”

“Felicity-”

“I want my baby back. Let’s just go back and get her.”

“Why don’t we turn off at the next exit and get some pancakes?”

“Yeah, a whole load of pancakes.”


	56. At the Fish Counter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Prompt - Oliver to Ava: “Don’t ever scare daddy like that again.” (thanks in advance if you decide to do this!)
> 
> Anonymous said: This prompt you can do later no rush. I love the Oliver and Ava fics. Can you do one where Oliver bumps into an ex-girlfriend and Ava there and she doesn’t like this woman and tells her mom what happens when they get home.
> 
> Anonymous said: I’m just gonna leave this prompt here: Ava starts to get jealous and feels like the odd one out when Oliver gives his attention to the other girls in his life (Thea, Felicity, Sara Diggle), so he decides to make it up to her by having a Daddy-Daughter day.

“Ava? AVA! There you are!”

Oliver finds her standing by the fish counter at the back of the store, because while she hates the smell, it always fascinates her that some of the fish on display still have their eyeballs, and that’s just the kind of curiosity that reigns his six-year-old. He instantly lifts her off the ground, checking her for any injury she may have sustained in the one minute and thirty-eight seconds she’s been gone from his side.

“Don’t you ever scare Daddy like that again,” he tells her sternly, a hand on her back settling her tiny form against his hip and then he’s satisfied that she’s okay.

“Sorry, Daddy,” she says, one hand twirling her braid.

“You shouldn’t wander off on your own, we’ve talked about this before-”

“I wasn’t on my own,” she cuts him off. “I was talking the lady.”

“Ava Moira Queen, you do not talk to strangers-”

“She said she knew you.”

He glances up then at the woman who’s been awkwardly standing and watching this exchange between father and daugher. He takes in her dark hair, obviously stunning appearance and apologetic. He knows her, of course he does, the two of them used to have a ‘dry spell’ arrangement between disputes with Laurel. She was his back up fuck, basically, and he wasn’t proud of that but he certainly won’t be explaining that to his little girl.

“Hey,” he says awkwardly.

“Oliver Queen,” she says with a welcoming smile. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah…about fifteen years,” he muses. “You look…well.”

“Mommy looks better,” Ava deadpans, butting herself back into the conversation.

“Ava, don’t be rude,” Oliver tells her, giving her look.

“You said to always tell the truth,” his daughter reminds him with just as much attitude.

“It’s okay,” the woman assures him with a small wave of her hand. “She’s a very…intelligent girl,” she says after settling for the right word. That happens a lot when it comes to Ava, particularly with school teachers, doctors, friends and…plenty of strangers.

“Yes, she is,” he says, his tone bragging as he smiles at his daughter. “My eldest, Ava,” he tells her. “I have a little boy too, he’s at home.”

“At home?” she teases. “You didn’t lose track of that one then?”

“It’s Daddy-Daughter day,” Ava brags smugly. “Tommy’s not allowed to come.”

“We’re just getting some food for our picnic and then we’re going to the park,” Oliver continues to explain.

“Well, I won’t keep you,” the woman tells him. “It’s good to see you, Oliver. We should get together some time, catch up,” she offers hopefully.

“No, thank you, stranger lady,” Ava says sweetly. “My Daddy is married to Mommy every day so he doesn’t need no more girlfriends.”

The woman disappears quite quickly, before Oliver can excuse the fact that he forgot her name, and he gives Ava a look. “That wasn’t the most polite way to talk to the lady, was it?” he tries to tell her sternly.

Ava just gives him a blunt look. “I’m telling Mommy you used to have a girlfriend before her,” she threatens.

Oliver just chuckles. “I think she knows that already, sweetie.”


	57. Where You Came From

“Mommy, do you love me?”

“Very much, sweetheart.”

“And do you love Daddy?”

“Every single day.”

“Do you love us both the same?”

“No. I love you both in different ways.”

“What kind of ways?”

“Well, I love you because you’re my baby girl, and because I grew you in my tummy, and that’s the most special kind of love in the world.”

“How do you love Daddy?”

“I love your Dad because he’s a wonderful, brave man, and he does everything he can to make sure that we’re happy, safe and loved.”

“Will you love Daddy forever?”

“I hope so. Only very, very lucky people get to love the same person for their entire life.”

“Daddy says he’s very lucky to have us.”

“Because I think we’re going to be one of the lucky families.”

“I think so too.”

“You’re asking a lot of questions about love tonight.”

“I heard Auntie Thea talking to Auntie Laurel about the baby in your tummy.”

“Yeah?”

“They didn’t see me because I was playing spy dudes, but they said that Daddy is really happy about it but that you look sad. Are you sad to be having a baby?”

“I’m not sad, honey. I’m very, very happy.”

“Why do people think you look sad?”

“Daddy has to travel a lot for work this year, and it means we have to spend a few days a week without him.”

“Only until Christmas.”

“Only until Christmas, that’s right. But by the time Christmas gets here my tummy will be getting big. I’m not sad that we’re having a baby, but I’m sad that your Dad has to miss some of the happy parts.”

“But the baby isn’t here yet.”

“No, but when you find out that you’re going to have a baby, it’s a very exciting time. You feel very happy, and very blessed. Do you remember how excited Auntie Lyla was when she got to tell people she was having a baby?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s exactly like that. It’s exciting and fun to tell all your family and friends, and we’ll get to watch the baby grow in my tummy and feel him or her kicking. Your Dad loved to do that with you, he used to fall asleep with his hand on my tummy and feel you kicking him. He said you were going to be a great soccer player.”

“Soccer’s boring.”

“I know, sweetie, but we like to humour Daddy, don’t we?”

“So if Daddy has to work a lot of the time, how did the baby get inside your tummy if he was in Central City?”

“Because love can do wonderful things.”

“Love gives you babies?”

“When two people love each other very much, anything is possible.”

“Anything?”

“Anything in the world.”

“Could you have a pet unicorn called Emily?”

“Maybe.”

“I hope that when I fall in love I get a unicorn.”

“That means you’ll have a boyfriend too.”

“I don’t want a boyfriend.”

“I thought you had a boyfriend at school.”

“No! I do not have a boyfriend. Definitely not Michael or Blake and especially not never ever Andy Diggle. Absolutely never not.”

“Okay, sweetie.”

“Daddy said I’m not allowed boyfriends.”

“Daddy doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.”

“I miss him a lot.”

“I miss him too, honey. But remember, how many nights do we have in a week?”

“Seven.”

“And how many nights does Daddy have to stay in Central City?”

“….two.”

“That means we get a whole five days where we get to have Daddy at home with us. “

“Why can’t we go to Central City with him?”

“Because you have to go to school.”

“Will he be home before we get our baby?”

“He will. The baby won’t be here for a while yet.”

“When will it get here?”

“In March. It’ll be here when it’s spring again. When there’s flowers on the trees and it rains a lot.”

“I don’t want it to rain when the baby comes home. I want the baby to see our pretty windows.”

“I think we’ll need to find another pretty house first. There’s not room in this loft for four of us. The baby will have nowhere to sleep.”

“It can sleep in my room with me.”

“But babies are very noisy, how will you sleep?”

“Then I will sleep in your bed with you, and Daddy can sleep in my bedroom with the baby.”

“That’s a good plan. But you have school tomorrow, so you have to go to sleep now.”

“Okay, momma.”

“Goodnight, baby. I love you.”

“I love you.”


	58. Superdad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Blankie gets left behind on vacation…… But they get blankie back somehow.

First, she held her breath. Then, her face turned bright red. Then, she _screamed_.

She screamed, she cried, she wailed. And she didn’t stop.

“We have to go back,” Felicity insisted, holding their sobbing two-year-old against her shoulder as she attempted to soothe her. Unfortunately, nothing was working in their favour. She was inconsolable, completely beyond comfort, and they were tearing their hair out over what should be the simplest thing to have remembered.

And yet, they were in their beach house, two hours from Starling City, ready for their first real summer family vacation. Two weeks of nothing but family time, new memories with their little girl before their next baby joined them in the winter.

“It’s too late, Felicity,” Oliver spoke in a hushed tone.

“She’s not going to sleep without it,” she insisted.

Everything was in place.

Except Blankie.

And it was almost bedtime.

“Have you called Thea and see if she can bring it up?” Felicity asked, frustrated from the intense screaming in her ear.

“She’s not picking up.”

“Diggle?”

“Kids are in bed and he can’t leave them alone.”

“Barry! Call Barry.”

“He’s in the middle of something, he can’t get away yet.”

Felicity slumped down onto the couch, Ava cradled with her legs wrapped around her mother’s waist with her arms clinging to her neck. Ava’s cries were so fierce that she had to keep pausing to cough. “We have to do something,” Felicity insisted.

Oliver crouched down beside them, rubbing his hand on Ava’s back. “Ava, look at me. Look at Daddy.”

She turned her head against Felicity’s shoulder, revealing her angry-red face with tear-stained cheeks.

“Good girl,” Oliver murmured softly. “What if we all go to bed, and you can sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s bed, and tomorrow Daddy will go home and get Blankie for you?”

She wailed again, her entire face crumbling in agony. “No! Need Blankie.”

“Just one night, baby,” he pleaded with her. “One night, and Daddy will go first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Dada, no,” she cried, heaving her desperate sobs right into his face. Her hand reached out and gripped onto his shirt tightly and his heart broke. “Dada, _peease_ ,”

If he was broken before, that word shattered him. _Peease_. No L. Not quite a please. But god, she poured her entire heart and soul into it. This little girl had him wrapped around her finger from the day she was first placed into his arms, and when she’d started to speak in her tiny, broken phrases he’d fallen even more in love with her politeness. ‘Ta’ had turned into ‘peease’ a few months ago, and it was his favourite word since she’d learned ‘Dada’.

He raised his eyes to Felicity, the two of them as pained as their little girl, and then he cupped his hand to his little girl’s cheek. “Okay, baby. Daddy will get Blankie.”

–

Three hours and forty-two traffic violations later, Oliver arrived back at the beach house to the sound of gentle hiccups of sobs. He found his wife and daughter sprawled on the couch in front of Ava’s current favourite movie, Tangled. Ava was curled up on Felicity’s chest, and he entered quietly, surprising his daughter by leaning over the couch and draping her much loved green Blankie over her.

Half-sleeping and exhausted from crying, she snuggled into it and took a deep breath before she realised what she was curling into, and then she scrambled up to the back of the couch where Oliver was leaning over her. Felicity released an ‘oomph!’ when their toddler stood on her ribs, balancing her so at least she wasn’t standing on her unborn sibling.

Ava fell against Oliver, wrapping her arms around his neck when he leaned down to her level and placing a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “Fank oo, Dada,” she said sweetly, her voice scratchy from her crying marathon. “Love oo lots.”

“Love you too, baby girl,” he whispered, pressing a firm kiss to the crown of her head. “Do you think we can go to bed now?” She nodded eagerly, lifting Blankie into her embrace as Oliver lifted her into his arms. “Good girl, tell Mommy goodnight and love you.”

He dipped her so she could kiss Felicity, who sat up to meet her tiny peck. “Nuh-night, love oo, momma.”

“Love you, sweetheart,” Felicity told her.

Ava giggled. “See ya,” she said madly through her cackle, mimicking the phrase Thea had started teaching her around bedtime.

“See ya,” Felicity called back in an equally mad tone as Oliver carried her up to bed. She went to stand up to tidy, but Oliver called out to stop her.

“Uh uh uh,” he shook his head, pointing at her. “First vacation night, I have plans for you. You stay right there.”

“What are you planning, Queen?” she shot back with a smirk.

“Nasty things,” he said with a wriggle of his eyebrows. “Like hot chocolate and an early night.”

She slumped back down on the couch. “I knew I married you for a reason.”


	59. Wake Up Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Oliver: “Good Morning sexy” Ava playing on the floor of their bedroom “Good Morning daddy!!” Felicity can’t stop laaughing

He wakes up to warmth pressed against him. Oliver loves mornings like this. His face is buried in her hair, golden strands tangled with the scent of berry shampoo waking his senses. She’s backed into his arms with his body curled around hers, knees slotting in behind hers and her back to his chest. Waking up with an armful of beauty is his favourite part of what his life has become.

No matter what, he wakes up to a sight of beauty. Sometimes it’s his wife. Sometimes it’s his daughter. Sometimes it’s both - those are his favourites - mornings where his eyes crack open the the sight of his wife and his little girl whispering to each other in their attempts not to wake him.

This morning isn’t one of those times. This morning his blood is humming in his veins, her body is soft and perfectly fit to his own, and he’s straining in his boxers for more of her. His hand slides down her front, gently stroking her clit through the fabric of her panties. He knows she’s already awake because her breath hitches and she bats his hand away.

He presses his face into her neck, trailing his lips over the point that makes her pulse jump and she squirms forward, trying to put distance between them. He pulls her back against him, pressing his morning erection into the delectable curve of her ass. His lips return to her neck, moving his hot, wet kisses up her throat until he could tug on her industrial piercing.

“Good morning, sexy,” he growls into her ear, palming between her legs again as he rolls his hips against her.

“Oliver-” she protests quietly before–

“Good morning, Daddy!”

He pushes away from Felicity so quickly he slips off the side of the bed. When he surfaces, his lower body hidden by the bed, he spots his daughter sat the foot of the bed with her dolls, bright-eyed and clearly awake for a while…and Oliver was trying to sex up his wife in front of her.

Felicity rolled onto her side to face him, biting her lip to keep from laughing. “I…what?” he splutters at her.

“I said good morning,” Ava tells him pointedly.

“Morning,” he mutters back, distracted as he looked at Felicity again.

“I did try to stop you,” she points out, biting her lip.

He tries to speak several times. Words fail him each time he opens his mouth. Instead, he grabs a clean shirt from the laundry pile behind him and holds it in front of his groin as he gets up.

“Where are you going, Daddy?”

“Daddy needs a cold shower.”

He almost slips in the doorway when he hears her next question. “Why does Daddy have his showers cold?”

He glares at his wife, who just grins at him and pokes their daughter’s nose. “Daddy’s weird.”


	60. Womanhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivers reaction to Ava’s first period…like i just imagine him to be the kind of dad that wants to support his daughter but is embarrassed out of his wits — superfirefox99

“Oliver, I can’t talk right now.”

“You need to come home.”

“What?”

“You need to come home, right now.”

“What’s happened?”

“I…can’t explain it, you just need to be here.”

“Oliver, you need to take a breath and talk to me. You’re starting to sound like me.”

“Ava needs you.”

“What? Is she okay? Did something happen?”

“Can you please just come home and we can deal with it then?”

“Oliver Queen, you will tell me what’s wrong with my daughter right now.”

“She’s…growing.”

“Growing?”

“…into a woman.”

“…Yes, that’s how puberty works, Oliver.”

“I can’t deal with this, Felicity.”

“She’s your daughter, Oliver. She’s going to grow and develop.”

“Well, she’s developing right now and I’m the one that gets sent to the drug store.”

“Why are you in the drug store?”

“Because she said she needs…things.”

“Things?”

“…mhhmmmhhhhhm.”

“Speak up.”

“Tampons, Felicity.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

“Oh!”

“Do you understand now?”

“She started her…”

“Yeah. And you’re not here.”

“I can’t believe I’m not there. I can’t believe I missed this.”

“It’s not her first steps, Felicity.”

“No, this is far more important.”

“Excuse me?”

“She’s becoming a woman! I’m supposed to be there for…guidance or something.”

“Well, you can guide me right now.”

“Where are you?”

“Outside the drug store.”

“You’re hiding in the car, aren’t you?”

“Do you know how many types of tampons they sell in there?”

“Yes, I’m rather familiar with it.”

“What do I get her?”

“For starters, don’t get her tampons.”

“But-”

“Do you want to try and explain to her how to use them?”

“….not really.”

“Get her towels, Oliver.”

“Like-”

“Not like bath towels. Sanitary towels.”

“The…pad things.”

“Yes. They’re a bit easier to use at first because she’s not going to be sure what her flow’s like yet.”

“Do you have to use those words?”

“She’s a woman now, Oliver. Women have flows.”

“Felicity-”

“So you’re going to want to get her a few packs in case she has a heavy flow.”

“Right. A few packs.”

“Like a nice selection. Then she can choose what she feels comfortable using.”

“How will she know?”

“Because the second you get off the phone I’m going to call her.”

“Can’t you just come home?”

“Not until tomorrow.”

“This is an important milestone in your daughter’s life, Felicity.”

“Don’t try to guilt me into this.”

“If you don’t come home, I’m going to have to call Thea.”

“Why haven’t you already called her?”

“…why would I have? I’m calling you.”

“Ava needs a woman with her! Get Thea to come over right now.”

“Felicity-”

“Do it. Promise me. I will check.”

“Fine, I’ll do it. So, I just buy a selection of pad…towel things? Anything else?”

“GIve her a hot water bottle if her stomach hurts, and make that pasta dish she likes for dinner tonight, she’ll want some comfort food.”

“Right, got it.”

“Be brave, Oliver.”

“You’re mocking me.”

“You can survive a period.”

“I survived your pregnancy, I suppose anything’s possible.”

–

[1 Message Received: Little Baby Girl Ava.]

Thanks mom. Dad came home with forty packs of pads, think I can survive the night! Aunt Thea came over for a girls night. Missing you though!! I’m gonna come with Dad to pick you up from the airport. See you tomorrow xx

[1 Message Received: Momma Bear]

Dad tries. Think the drug store terrified him. If he starts squirming too much remind him about the time I was pregnant with your sister. Miss you loads, baby girl. Love you millions xxxxx


	61. Mom of the Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> firststarsisee said: I’m hoping that if I type this here, it magically turns into a prompt. So - Felicity comes home early from work because Tommy is sick and spends all day looking after him and Oliver realises that she only ever skips work when one of her kiddos is sick and she is basically the supermama that we all already know she is.

The sun was setting when Oliver finally made it up the path, Ava’s hand tucked in his. She dragged her feet as they walked, a full day of exhaustion backing up an hour of swimming lessons as well. Swimming lessons were usually Felicity’s activity with her while he had an hour one-on-one time with Tommy, but he’d come out of a meeting earlier to a message that Tommy had got sick at pre-school and she’d left work earlier to take him home.

“Go get ready for your bath, I’ll be up soon,” Oliver told his daughter when he closed the front door behind them. “Careful to be quiet in case Tommy’s sleeping though, okay?”

She nodded obediently in her exhaustion, and he placed a kiss to the top of her sleepy head as he took her school-bag off her back and gave a small pat of her butt to prompt her into scampering away.

He walked into the living room where he found Felicity laid out on her back, their four-year-old covering her torso as he lay across her, burying his red eyes into the dip at the base of her throat. “Hey,” he whispered, squatting down beside their heads as he leaned in to kiss his wife. “Is he okay?”

She nodded, her voice gently as she stroked his back, a rhythm that looked as natural as if she’d been doing for hours. “He will be,” she assured him. “He has a fever so I’m keeping him home tomorrow since it’s Friday anyway, so then he has the weekend to recover.”

“Don’t you have that budget meeting tomorrow with Wayne Enterprises?” he asked, his mind going to the big circled event on the kitchen calendar that she’d been preparing for for the last month.

“I talked to Bruce while Tommy was sleeping earlier,” she explained. “It’s far more important that I’m here than stuck in a meeting where I can’t even get messages. Any other day maybe, but not when he’s sick. We’re rescheduling for Monday afternoon. I figured if you can’t finish early maybe Tommy can go to the after-school club and I can get him straight after my meeting, and maybe Thea would take Ava to her dance class, I know she’s being dying to see her practice.”

The way she spoke had that special part of his chest that housed his family warming within him. There was no doubt about it, their family only runs as expertly as it does because of her. There was no other way that as Mayor and CEO they could spend as much time with their children each time as they do.

“You’re amazing, you know that,” he said quietly, brushing one of the messier patches of her hair back towards her ponytail.

“I have puke on my shirt and I’m pretty sure there’s snot leaking into my shoulder,” she pointed out.

“Mom of the year,”  he corrected her, turning his attention to his half-sleeping son as he stroked back his damp fringe. His forehead wrinkled at the obvious signs of a fever. “Hey, bud, you sick?” he muttered.

Tommy’s hand came out to grip Oliver’s shirt, and he bent down to kiss his boy’s forehead. “Daddy,” he muttered tiredly. “My tummy hurts.”

“Not for long,” he assured him as he shifted to get comfortable against Felicity and sagged again. “You’ve got Mommy cuddles, and Mommy cuddles fix everything, don’t they?” he said with a knowing smile at his son. He easily caught Felicity’s softer grin out the corner of his eye.

“Fix all the bad things,” Tommy agreed, nuzzling his face into Felicity’s neck and settling there.

Oliver turned his attention back to Felicity. “I’m going to get Ava her bath and get her into bed. Lyla gave her dinner with Andy and Sara before swim class. Have you eaten?”

“Tommy tried to but he threw up again. I haven’t though,” she told him.

“I’ll get Ava into bed then we can put him down and I’ll make us something,” he offered, standing up and taking the blanket from the back of the couch to lay over them both before he went to settle Ava for the night.

When he came down after bath and bedtime for their daughter, he found mother and son curled into their embrace fast sleep, the blanket tightly wrapped so he could still see the way their arms lock around each other.

Mother of the year doesn’t quite cut it. She was even more perfect than that.

He thought she was dedicated before they had a family, dedicated to her work, dedicated to him, but her dedication to her children was something else entirely. It wasn’t even on the same level. Oliver knew and loved his children more than anything in the world, they both did, but she understood them before they even knew what they needed. It was only in completely unavoidable situations that she wasn’t there to put them to bed, or to wake them up in the morning. But moments like this were what made his heart soar. There was no other way to explain it.

When she holds their children, they fit together as easily as if they were still growing within her. He loved embracing his children, but he doesn’t think they’d ever fit together as perfectly as they did with Felicity. She just consumes them with her arms, holding them as close as she can without fitting them directly in her heart.

“Mom of the year,” he repeated under his breath as he tucked the blanket over them a little tighter. He could avoid disturbing them for a while longer.


	62. These Arms of Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> orangeisorange said: Prompt: There’s been a domestic abuse situation at Ava’s school prompting Felicity and Oliver to talk about it in bed that night, Felicity saying how grateful she is that she has him knowing he’d never lay a hand on her. (Sorry if that’s weird, I just find that bond between men and women so beautiful/sacred, the fact that men are physically stronger, especially with Oliver being stronger and taller than Felicity, yet you know he’d never violate it)

By the time she manages to crawl into bed that night, she’s exhausted - not just physically but mentally. It had started with a midday call from their daughter’s school and ended with a lot of questions that had not only interrupted story-time but extended it by an hour and a half.

“Hey,” Oliver whispers as she slips beneath the covers, rolling onto her side to face him. “She asleep?”

“After a lot of questions,” she sighed. “Too many questions.”

His sigh matches her own as she rests her head, their legs tangling as they faced one another. ”I don’t even know how you even started to talk to her about all that…” he says as his hand reaches between them to capture her own.

She toys with his fingers rather than looking at him. “What choice did we have?” she reminds him.

Realistically, they had no choice. One of Ava’s friends had been talking their little girl about a domestic violence situation she’d witnessed, which lead to Ava asking questions at school. They had no choice but to explain to her that they’ll talk when Tommy was in bed, so they put their three-year-old to bed early in order that they could talk to about the questions she had. It turns out she has a lot of questions.

“Is she okay?” Oliver asks, remembering his daughter looking at him far too cautiously all night, because she knows now that some Daddies can hurt Mommies, so he’d had to leave his girls to talk and banish himself to bed to wait.

“Yeah,” she nods. “She wasn’t scared of you earlier, you know that, right?” she checks.

He nods, but there’s a silence she waits for him to fill. “It’s my greatest fear,” he confesses in the darkness of their room. “It’s the only thing I have nightmares about now.”

“You’d never hurt us,” she assures him. “I know that.”

“Do you?” he checks.

Her next assurance is a kiss, slow and sweet just like the way she brought this happiness into his life. “Oliver, I know you’d never hurt us,” she whispers. “You know, in college, before Cooper, I was seeing this guy and he raised a hand to me.” Oliver’s eyes darken, that possessive rage slipping over him as she moves her hand to his jaw. “He didn’t hurt me, but there was a moment I was afraid he would. But I’ve never felt that with you.”

The anger slips out of his gaze and gives way to something far softer when his forehead dips to rest against hers. His fingers trail over her cheek as if she’s all he ever sees. Most days that’s true. “The night I came back to Starling City, I almost killed my mother just because she tried to wake me from a nightmare. What if…”

“You’ve slept beside me every night for ten years,” she tells him.

“Every night is a risk.”

“Not for me,” she assures, touching her lips to his. “You wouldn’t hurt me like that, I know it. I feel safe sleeping in your arms, Oliver. Our kids feel safe in your arms. I feel safe with them in your arms. I trust you.”

Those three words, I trust you, mean more to him than any I love you she can give him. It’s far more intimate, far more soothing, because Ava and Tommy are the most precious things in her life, and the fact that she feels safe knowing they are in his arms - arms which have killed, which have choked, which have slaughtered - is precious to him. He fears unintentionally causing them harm every waking moment, and she trusts that he won’t, knows that it isn’t even an option.

Before he can speak again, she moves fully into his embrace, her head slipping into the space beneath his chin that fits her perfectly. She can feel each exhale brushing through her hair. “This is where I feel safest,” she assures him as his arms come around her instinctively. “Every night I sleep in the arms of a man I know would do anything to keep me safe, who would never let me be hurt, and you don’t know how thankful I am that I have this.”

“I do,” he whispers into her hair, “because I’m thankful too.”


	63. Everything I Am

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kiki-1277 submitted: Oliver thinks Ava is the cutest baby in existence and is that father who brags and takes photos forever. Inspired by the Olicity duck (prompt, thank you so very much in advance)
> 
> mimozka said: Prompt: Oliver bragging to someone about his kids. Not in a superior to you kind of way but in the absolute sappiest, love my kids so much I need to shout it to the world kind of way.

Oliver spends a lot of time glued to his cell phone when he travels to Central City.

It’s not out of rudeness, but out of necessity. When he’s away, it’s where his family are closest to him. Since Ava was born, it was no longer practical for Felicity go with him when he travels for mission reasons, especially when it’s dangerous, and if anything ever happened to either of them because of him he’d never forgive himself. So Felicity stays with Ava, and Oliver spends an awful lot of time staring at his cell phone watching the pictures and videos he has collected over the last fifteen months.

A hand claps on his shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. “Sneaking off?”

“I wish,” Oliver mutters as Barry takes a seat next to him. Thankfully, it makes him remember that the coffee he ordered however-many-minutes-ago is still there and possibly still drinking temperature, so he places his phone down on the table and folds his arm in front of him as he drinks.

“Company not what you hoped for?” Barry half-laughs.

Oliver shakes his head lightly. “Being away from home is harder now,” he explains. “They’re right when they say having a kid changes everything.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Barry agrees. “So, how is Ava? Growing up?”

“Too quickly,” Oliver huffs out, reaching for his phone again. He unlocks it and opens up the camera app, going straight to the video files and setting one up to play, turning the phone towards Barry. “She’s walking now.”

Barry’s eyes widen as he leans over the screen and watches the video of Ava toddling towards the camera with a beaming smile on her face. “It’s freaky how much she looks like you.”

“I know, I was hoping she’d look like Felicity,” Oliver agrees. “You wouldn’t believe how quickly it’s all going.”

“Really?” Barry challenges, to which Oliver laughs - something he’s never done with Barry before.

“Really. Two months ago she was chewing on a doll’s head, and now she’s bringing it to me with ‘Dada, play’,” he said with amazement. “And she’s so clever. Insanely smart for a one year old. The other day we were showing her photos, and she can point to each person when you name them. She’s unbelievable.”

“She’d have to be intelligent with Felicity for her Mom,” Barry muses.

“It’s more than that,” Oliver nods. “She’s just…amazing. She’s so curious about everything, she wants to just learn and see everything she can. She’s opened up this whole part of us that we never imagined could be there. The other day we went to the Natural History Museum…for fun,” he stated, and then lowered his voice. “And it was really fun.”

Barry laughs, throwing his head back a little. “For someone who said we couldn’t have this life, that we don’t get the girl…you’ve sure changed your mind.”

“Best thing I ever did,” Oliver admits, his gaze falling to the phone and smiling wistfully at his daughter’s chubby cheeks, his heart aching when the camera focused on Felicity lifting their daughter up and blowing raspberries into her stomach. “Everything…” he shakes his head as if the the thought alone is more than I can comprehend. “Everything I do…Everything I am…it’s all for them now.”

“Oliver Queen, father of the year,” Barry teases. “You know, if you want, I can get you home a bit sooner.”

Oliver considers the idea, checks the time, and gives him a smile. “Can we make it another hour? Her after-dinner diapers are a nightmare, I’d kinda like another night off from those.”


	64. One Month Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> canadianheartgirl said: So I was thinking this as an idea for a promp: inexperienced parents Oliver and felicity when their newborn baby girl gets sick for watherever reason. Hope you like it :)

The tiny coughs come through the baby monitor, filling their bedroom with silence as both parents simultaneously bite their lip and wait for them to pass. When they do, they both sigh heavily, sinking back into the cushions and draw their sight away from the screen of the monitor. Oliver loves these baby monitors that have the video screen on them. He remembers the ones that doubled as walkie-talkies when Thea was a baby, because he and Tommy often stole them, but these ones with video screens are something he’s pretty sure Felicity would have made from scratch if they didn’t sell them in stores.

He’s pretty sure he’d never make it into their bedroom at night without it.

Tonight it’s on Felicity’s side of the bed, and he’s curled his body around hers as they face towards it. They’re exhausted, but they won’t be sleeping tonight.

“What time is it?” Oliver asks, his forehead pressing to Felicity’s shoulder in resignation.

She cranes her neck to see the timestamp on the monitor screen. “Two thirty.” She slumps again after, lacing her hand with his. “This is torture.”

“Do you think we should check her temperature again?” he asks through his next sigh.

“We only checked it ten minutes ago, she’ll never settle if we keep going in there,” Felicity points out. “Her fever’s still low.” Another cough has both their heads shooting up, but when it was a one-off they settle again. “God, this is torture.”

“Maybe she’ll settle better in here?” Oliver suggests. “With us?”

“I don’t know,” Felicity mumbles, and he can hear from the certain mumble that she’s biting on her lips. “I really don’t know.”

“Neither do I,” he sighs.

The baby coughs again, and this time in her half-sleeping state there’s a tired whimper from the little girl who’s too sick to sleep. At that, Oliver’s ready to climb out of the bed and go get her because he’s learned quickly into this first attempt at parenting that his baby girl whimpering is far more painful than the sound of her crying. Instead, Felicity’s on her feet far faster than him, leaving him tangled in her half of the duvet when its tossed over him and she wraps the nearest item of clothing - his discarded hoodie - over her pyjamas.

“Screw this, I’m not letting my daughter suffer on her own,” she declares, deliberately kicking one of their more trusted parenting books out of her way as she marches out of the door.

Moments later, their month old baby girl is nestled between them in the centre of the bed. They’ve surrounded her in pillows but her chesty breaths don’t sound as bad as they do over the monitor. Both of them feel a little better when they have her close, but neither will admit it.

“We should call the-”

“First thing in the morning I’m-”

They share a huffed laugh over their calming daughter, their fingertips linking over her stomach. One of them will be calling the paediatrician in the morning, it doesn’t matter which. For as much as they don’t know what they’re doing half the time, when it comes to the important decisions they’re always on the same page.

“We’re doing okay, aren’t we?” Oliver checks after a short while, when they see that their girl is asleep at long last.

“I think we’re scraping by,” Felicity mutters, her heart not quite in it when she smiles, but it does hit her eyes when she looks down to see their daughter’s fingers curled around each of theirs. “I don’t think she’s complaining though.”

Oliver leans down and brushes his lips across her forehead. “Fever’s going down. I think the worst is over.”

“You’re getting good at that,” she praises lightly, thinking back to how they were struggling with ear thermometers two days ago and now they’re good on touch.

“I think the next cold season, we’ll have this down perfectly,” he whispers.

And they don’t sleep, but doze in unspoken shifts, taking turns where the baby wakes. They might not know what they’re doing, but they’re doing pretty well so far.


	65. Five Minutes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Please can you write a fic where Oliver and Ava is out somewhere but there is a hostage situation and Oliver gets injured or they take him away from Ava? Or someone kidnaps him in the proces. I’m gonna regret this prompt but I’m all for the angst now and you’re the best for this task :) I love your fics!! — 1022bridgetp

“Ava. Ava, look at me.”

Daddy’s hurt.

Daddy’s got blood on him.

She thinks it’s coming from his arm because it’s all on his jacket and he really likes this jacket because it was a gift from Mommy and he’s going to be really mad that the Bad Man got blood all on his favourite jacket.

“Ava, look at me.”

Daddy’s using his Cross Voice. He’s not cross, he’s just trying to make sure that she’s listening to him. She’s just not sure what to call this voice yet because Listen To Me Ava Voice is too long and Don’t Argue With Your Mother voice is even longer but it’s mostly a This Is Very Important Voice. Because this is very important.

So she looks at Daddy. She looks at him and not at his arm - no, it’s not his arm it’s on his shoulder because it’s running all down his arm like the time she ran into the doorframe and hit her nose and the blood was running all down her chin and–

“Ava, are you listening?”

She nods, because she is listening. Because this is very important and Daddy needs her to.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

She thinks. Her knee tickles but that’s because her pants are too small now and she needs new ones, at least that’s what she’s telling Mommy because she wants the new ones with the glitter on but she doesn’t think she can wear those to school so Mommy might say no. So she shakes her head because she isn’t hurt anywhere.

“Are you scared?”

She nods a lot, because she’s really scared. She’s been scared ever since they went to the bank and the Bad Man came in with the gun and Daddy pushed her underneath Mr Bank Man’s desk and told her to stay quiet until he came to get her. But then the Bad Man was shooting his gun and then when Daddy found her he had blood on him and she thinks he’s been shot by the Bad Man so she’s really, really scared because when people get shot they—

“Hold my hand,” Daddy says, and she does. Daddy’s hands are so big. She’s always brave when she holds his hands because everyone tells her she’ll never, ever, ever be safer than she is when Daddy’s holding her hand. He used to hold all of her in just his hands but she’s not that small any more so she can only hold his hand. “Don’t be scared, sweetheart. I’m going to be fine. I have you to take care of me, don’t I?”

That makes her scared again because she’s never taken care of a person properly before. She’s still only little. Well, everyone says she’s a big girl now and she says she’s a big girl all the time if anyone asks her, but she’s only six years old and that’s far too little to take care of a person because even Sara Diggle is too little to take care of her on her own yet and she’s ten years old now. So six is definitely too little to take care of a person.

“Now, you don’t have to be scared. Do you see those doctors over there?”

She nods, because they got here at the same time the policemen did. They came with the flashing lights because she could see them through the window.

“They’re going to take us to the hospital and they’re going to make my shoulder better. The policemen already called Mommy and she’s going to meet us there, but I need you to be a brave girl in the ambulance until we get there, okay?”

She starts to panic a bit because she had to go in an ambulance before when she tripped on the stairs and it was really loud and everyone was telling her that things were going to be okay but she was still really scared.

“No, no, no, it’s fine,” Daddy says, and she’s trying really hard not to cry because Daddy needs her to be brave and she needs to be brave. “A special policeman who works with Captain Lance is going to sit with you, okay? And you’re going to have my cell phone and you’re going to talk to Grandma on the phone. Grandma’s going to be in the car with Mommy, so when we get to the hospital and I go with the doctors you’re going to go straight to them, okay?”

She nods, because Grandma is really nice to talk to on the phone and she knows she can’t talk to Mommy when she’s driving the car but she really, really wants to be with Mommy because Mommy has the best hugs in the world and she really, really wants a Mommy hug right now and–

“Do you understand, Ava?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you be brave for five more minutes?” Daddy asks her.

Five minutes is a very short time. Daddy can’t cook dinner in five minutes. Mommy can’t run a bath in five minutes. Daddy’s sports games are longer than five minutes. There are lots of things that can’t be done in five minutes because one minute only has sixty seconds in it five times, and she can count to sixty so if she does that five times then that’s not that much.

So she can be brave for five more minutes.

“Good girl.”


	66. Don't Tell Your Father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Dialogue prompt: Ava and Felicity talking about Andy. Ava: “I think he’s the one.”

“So, I hardly ever see you these days.”

“Mom, you do work like…sixty hour days.”

“I was hinting more towards why you’ve been out every night this week, not my working hours.”

“Mom…”

“Come on, my working day is nothing new. But little miss social life…”

“I’ve always had a social life.”

“You’re getting home later than me, and your father’s very grumbly why. It must be a boy.”

“What if it’s a girl?”

“I’d still want to gossip, but I don’t think your father would be as ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ as he is. That’s a boyfriend thing.”

“I hope I’m not the only one getting that treatment from him.”

“Your sister’s too young for boyfriends.”

“She’s nine, and she’s the prettiest girl in her class, Mom.”

“Meaning?”

“I had boyfriends at nine. Three of them, actually.”

“What? No, I’d have known that.”

“Three at the same time.”

“Oh, those kind of boyfriends.”

“But still, we’re getting off topic.”

“We are. I was hoping you’d roll with it.”

“Ava Queen, if you want some of this very, very delicious ice cream, you’ll spill your gossip with your poor gossip-deprived mother.”

“Please, you’re not poor.”

“No, but I will eat this entire tub of ice cream by myself.”

“Not humanly possible.”

“Carrying you did this body wonders for eating stamina.”

“Pretty sure that’s not a real thing.”

“You’re too much like your father sometimes. Sit. Talk.”

“Fine…it’s a boy.”

“I knew that.”

“It’s not just any boy.”

“It’s Andy, isn’t it?”

“You knew?”

“Honey, you’ve been making heart eyes at each other since you were two.”

“That’s probably not true.”

“Are you official?”

“I think so.”

“Really?”

“Well, there’s been…a lot of kissing and…”

“Kissing’s fine, it’s not like you’re losing your virginity or anything…”

“Umm….”

“Have you…?”

“Well…last night…”

“Ava Moira Queen!”

“We’re both legal, mom! It’s fine!”

“But…my baby girl…you’re growing up too fast.”

“I’m not a baby anymore.”

“But speaking of babies, first things first, were you safe?”

“..mom, you took me to get birth control.”

“The question stands.”

“Yes, we used…oh god, I can’t believe I have to say these words to my mother. Yes, we were safe.”

“Good. So, how was it?”

“It was…good. Well, I suppose it’s meant to be a bit painful, but it passed. And it’s really, really nerve wracking when you know Uncle Digg’s down the hall. I kept expecting him to burst in with his ninja skills and kick Andy’s ass.”

“You should be lucky you didn’t spark your father’s ninja skills, or he’d probably be dead.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“You know that I’m not.”

“Promise me you won’t tell Dad? I really, really like Andy and I don’t want him to..well, die.”

“Trust me, I do not want to be the person who tells him this.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you happy though, baby girl? No regrets?”

“No regrets. I’m…very happy.”

“Does that mean we’re going to see more of Andy than we already do?”

“I..think he might be the one, Mom.”

“Really?”

“I think so. I don’t really have a lot to compare it to, but…whatever it is, I’d be totally happy if this never ended.”

“That’s definitely the one.”

“Can’t believe it’s someone I’ve known my whole life. Like, he’s been right there the entire time.”

“Sometimes it’s better that way. No one knows you better than your best friend.”

“He says he’s in love with me.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“Yeah, I think I am.”

“Have you told him?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m happy for you, sweetie.”

“Thanks, mom.”

“But we do need to keep this from your father.”

“Oh, forever.”


	67. Bad Parenting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Okay :) So maybe you want to write it one day. Something happens to Olicity baby and Felicity blames herself but not with little Ava, she’s been through a lot :(((

“Hey, are you coming to bed?”

“Not yet.”

“Tommy’s fine, Felicity, he’s sleeping.”

“He might wake up again.”

“When was he last sick?”

“About two hours ago. We’re on ten second warnings for it coming out the other end now.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, not nice. Might want to stick to our bathroom for a while. The main one has a…scent.”

“I’ll wait up with you until we’re sure it’s passed.”

“Trust me, you don’t want sick kid duty.”

“Are you kidding? We’re onto crap now, pretty sure that’s a father-son activity.”

“I don’t remember that in the books…”

“Think of it as a trade. I get Tommy’s crap, and you get Ava’s periods.”

“Deal.”

“You jumped at that quick.”

“Ava’s going to get a period once a month. Tommy’s going to crap every day.”

“At what age do kids become self-sufficient?”

“Thirty?”

“We’re screwed. We should have gotten hamsters instead.”

“Hamsters only live for like…three years.”

“At least you don’t have to cook for them.”

“That’s not funny right now.”

“Felicity…he’s fine.”

“He’s exploding at both ends. I am covered in so many body fluids I may never be clean again. He’s not fine.”

“It’s just a bout of food poisoning.”

“That I gave him.”

“Unintentionally.”

“I intentionally cooked dinner.”

“Were you trying to poison him?”

“Don’t say poison…”

“Felicity, you can’t blame yourself for this…things happen.”

“Things like this only happen when I cook.”

“He’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

“I made my baby sick.”

“Kids get food poisoning all the time.”

“From crappy fast food, not from their mother’s cooking.”

“Well, we aren’t really a normal family, are we?”

“Apparently not.”

“ _Mommy…”_

“Poop time?”

“Come on, bud. Come with Daddy.”


	68. It's My Turn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lecomics-hooverman said: Dialoge: olicity - oliver is jealous ;)

“Didn’t you want to take a shower?”

“I’m okay for a minute.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m a bit tired so I might just sit for a while.”

“What about food, have you eaten yet?”

“I had a sandwich an hour ago, Oliver, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Are _you_ sure?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like…are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Because you’ve been super-attentive since you got home today.”

“Felicity-”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m just making sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine. But you seem…grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy.”

“You are. You’ve got that crinkle under your left eye like it’s twitching.”

“Felicity-”

“Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“I just…had a long day, that’s all.”

“I didn’t even get to go outside, Oliver, so you’re doing better than me.”

“Yeah.”

“There it is again, the eye crinkle and….are you jealous that I didn’t have to go outside today?”

“What? No. That’s ridiculous.”

“No, that’s not it…”

“I just…missed you today, and I missed the baby and…”

“…you’re jealous that I’m getting the hugs and you’re not?”

“Kinda.”

“Oliver…come here. Sit with us.”

“It’s not fair. I know you’re on maternity leave but trust me, you’re not going to enjoy going back to work and leaving her after a few months. Today has been horrible.”

“Trust me, you didn’t miss anything except an ear piercing scream all day.”

“All day?”

“She literally fell asleep twenty minutes ago.”

“Oh.”

“That’s the only reason I haven’t handed her over the second you walked in the door. I’m worried the second I move she’ll start crying again.”

“Hopefully she’ll have worn herself out and she’ll sleep well tonight.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Hmm. Maybe she knew I was coming home.”

“She’s always on her best behaviour for you.”

“It’s an inside joke, we came to an understanding in the hospital.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It’s a gift, she just loves me more than she loves you.”

“That’s not true, I’ve got the boobs.”

“We bonded over our mutual love for them.”

“It’s just for a few months, Oliver. When I go back to work, you can get straight on your stay-at-home dad plan.”

“I’m staying home tomorrow.”

“You are?”

“Made an agreement with the Shareholders that we’ll work remotely as much as we can, and you’ll go back whenever you’re ready.”

“So we can both be at home with her for a while?”

“Is that okay with you?”

“That’s very okay with me. It’ll be nice, us doing this together.”

“Good.”

“You know what, why don’t you take her?”

“It’s okay, if she wakes up–”

“—then she’ll be thrilled that her dad’s finally home because I think she missed him all day. Here…”

“You have to pee don’t you?”

“So badly it hurts.”


	69. Group Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Oliver and Felicity are out on a date when she runs into her ex. Oliver is not the least bit pleased
> 
> Anonymous said: Felicity runs into an ex and is happy to see him. A little too happy for Oliver’s liking
> 
> Anonymous said: Can we write a jealous and possessive Oliver? Maybe they go to a party or maybe a undercover mission they hit on felicity
> 
> thetaufactor said: Hey! I have a prompt for you! I want Ray Palmer to meet Ava and Ava to really not like him and that gives him her best broody, angry Oliver face. Also maybe she can meet Team Flash :)

“Who’s Mommy talking to?”

Oliver glances over where his five-year-old is looking to, where his wife is standing in her beautiful navy blue dress with her beautiful blonde curls cascading over her back, and he focuses intently on the hand at the base of her spine -  not quite in dangerous territory to most, but to Oliver who frequents that spot rather often, especially at parties like this, it’s very dangerous territory for the owner of that hand.

So he follows his gaze up the arm, takes in the expensive suit, the almost innocent smile as he looks at the stunning woman in his presence and he grits his jaw.

“That’s Mr. Palmer, Mommy’s friend,” he tells his daughter in what he hopes is a neutral tone.

Ava looks at Ray, wrinkles her nose and gives a small ‘hmmp’ sound that makes him think otherwise.

It’s not that he hates Ray, it’s that…Ray and Felicity once had a thing. He’s spent a substantial amount of time linking his utter heartbreak at Felicity giving up on him to his jealousy of Ray and the two emotions are stirring in his gut again even though he’s very much married to the love of his life and very much in love with the beautiful daughter who’s balanced on his hip.

It doesn’t matter that it’s been eight years, that they’re married, that they have a wonderful life together, but the way she smiles at Ray Palmer still makes him soar with jealousy.

“I don’t like him,” Ava decides hotly, her decision instantaneous and unchangeable and if it’s anything like the time she decided that he had to stop calling her his princess because she was the best damn Queen in the world, it was one she was unmoveable on.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Oliver asks her, swiping a miniature eclair slice from a passing table and holding it out for his daughter.

Ava nods seriously, taking the cake and pushing it all into her mouth in one go.

“I don’t like him either,” he whispers, just as Felicity and Ray approach them and Ava breaks into giggles. “Ray, it’s good to see you again.”

“Oliver,” he greets in that typically friendly tone, holding out for a handshake where Oliver’s not entirely sorry he’s still got chocolate on his fingertips from Ava’s dessert. “Great to see you. It’s been years.”

“Six years,” he agrees with a nod, looking at the daughter on his hip as a product of that.

“This must be Ava,” Ray says, looking to Felicity before he glances back to the little girl in Oliver’s arms. “I’ve been hearing a lot about you tonight. You’re a very special little girl, from what I hear.”

“Yes, I am,” Ava says with an air of importance neither of them are sure where she’s inherited from.

“My name’s Ray Palmer, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he introduces him.

“It should be, I’m a delight,” Ava insists, then looks at Oliver with a pointed look. “Daddy, can I have more dessert please?” she asks sweetly.

He’s so proud of her in that moment he doesn’t care that she’s had far more than her share of dessert. “You can have whatever you want, sweetheart.”

“Well, it’s been great to catch up again, Felicity,” Ray says a glance at Ava and an arch of his eyebrow, “but I really do have to go speak to the Ambassador before I leave, so I’ll send you an email about when I’m next in time and we can discuss my proposal?”

“Daddy did a proposal once,” Ava pipes up smugly. “Mommy said she’ll only say yes to him.”

Ray makes his exit after a quick goodbye kiss to Felicity’s cheek, and when Felicity turns back, Ava is giving her a pointed look. “Mommy, we need to talk,” she says seriously.

Felicity bites back a grin. “Is that so? Am I in trouble?”

“I don’t like him,” she insists. “I only like Daddy kissing you and being your friend.”

“Mommy has lots of friends,” she explains. “Friends are nice.”

“He’s not nice,” Ava tells her. “Daddy and me don’t like him.”

Felicity looks up with an arched eyebrow of her own. “And just what have you and Daddy been talking about?” she asks, looking at him intently and he clears his throat.

“Ava, let’s get you some more dessert.”


	70. Like Mother, Like Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity teaches Tommy how to hack into a government network—superfirefox99

“Mom, should we be doing this?”

“It’s basic coding, hon, it’s fine.”

“…it isn’t though, is it?”

“If your father asks, it’s basic coding.”

“Dad’s not going to be happy, is he?”

“Your father’s…not a fan of…basic coding.”

“Because it’s not basic coding. It’s hacking.”

“Hacking is such an ugly word.”

“Should you be teaching me to hack?”

“Do you want to work in programming one day?”

“Maybe.”

“Yesterday you were sure.”

“But I also want to be a fireman.”

“Well…you’re seven so I’m going to let that slide. Okay, pick a database.”

“That one.”

“…really? Why that one?”

“Because I know it. They were in the movie the other night.”

“Okay, so do you remember the programming we went over last week?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, show me. If you get stuck, I’ll help you.”

“Okay.”

“…Tommy?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you just do?”

“I did what you told me to do with the firewall.”

“I didn’t tell you to do that.”

“Oh.”

“Where did you learn that?”

“Umm…I watched you.”

“Watched me when?”

“When you told to stay with Mr. Holt in your office I snuck away and watched you and you were doing this.”

“Tommy, do you know what you’re doing right now?”

“I’m hacking into the F.B.I. like you told me to.”

“I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

“But you said I could do anything if I put my mind to it.”

“Yes. I did say that, didn’t I?”

“Didn’t you mean it?”

“It’s just a think Mom’s say.”

“So when you tell Ava that she can really be a doctor and play with people’s hearts, is that a lie?”

“It’s not exactly a lie…”

“So Ava can’t be a doctor?”

“Hon, the thing about your sister is that she….she drops a lot of things.”

“But I got into the F.B.I.”

“Yes, you did, and you need to scoot over and let me get you back out of there before they notice.”

“I can do it.”

“Tommy, you need to let me-”

“No one noticed when I did it to Dad’s email.”

“…your father and the F.B.I have wildly different technological capabilities.”

“You didn’t notice when I got into your email.”

“…why did you go into my email?”

“I wanted to know what time you’d be home from work and you said it was on your calendar so I went into your email to see your calendar.”

“Tommy–”

“It said you had a meeting with Mr. Period.”

“Tommy, I think that’s enough.”

“Was it a nice meeting?”

“….that meeting, actually was…late, so, we don’t need to talk about it.”

“Does Dad know?”

“Dad doesn’t need to know.”

“Well, he knows now.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“It does, because I learned what the ‘sync’ button does, and it mixed yours and Dad’s calendar together.”

“Thomas Queen, you get out of that database right now.”

“Where are you going?”

“I need to talk to your father.”


	71. I Had The Best Day With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: I see a lot of fics where Olicity’s kid is a total “daddy’s girl/boy” which, don’t get me wrong, is adorable, but I was wondering if you could do something where their child (you choose which) is a complete “mommy’s girl/boy” and it surprises Felicity, along with the fact that she takes so well to motherhood, since Oliver was more excited about children in general and Felicity was initially more nervous. (Oliver can still be stay at home superdad, but mommy is clearly the “favorite”.)
> 
> Anonymous said: Idk of you are taking prompts.. But I wanted to throw one at you.. Since I see so much Daddy Oliver.. I want Mommy Felicity!! a Mommy and Ava Day!! With spa day movies popcorn and all the good mommy daughter moments

“I think you’re very good at this.”

The words surprise her from their silence, and Felicity looks up across the coffee table where her five-year-old is sitting.

“Good at what? Coloring?”

“At being a Mom.”

Felicity smiles, propping her head up on her elbow as she shifts her leg, letting it knock against Ava’s knee. These moments are frequent now - and maybe it’s taken them five years to get into a real parenting routine that doesn’t end with the two of them playfully bickering over who gets to spend more time with this beautiful little girl they’ve created, but who cares - and today Oliver’s out on a please-get-me-out-of-the-house run while mother and daughter have settled in for the afternoon with a brand new pack of colouring pens.

“Thanks, hon,” she smiled, turning her attention back to the tiger she was turning blue.

“Do you like doing it?” Ava asks her.

“Being a Mom?”

Ava nods, and Felicity ponders between indulging her daughter and telling her the truth - the truth always wins with Ava, who’s remarkably intelligent from her age and she’s pretty sure that this will be the year that she rumbles Oliver on pretending to be Santa.

“Yeah, I love it. I didn’t always think I would though.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s scary,” Felicity told her, recapping the blue pen in favour of the purple, that she swipes from under Ava’s elbow. “I got really scared when I found out I was going to be a Mom.”

“Was I scary?” she asks with a frown.

“No, you were perfect” she remembers, propping her head up on one arm as she watches the curiosity flicker over her daughter’s face. It’s odd sometimes, to see her now and remembered the screaming red-faced child that was placed on her chest when she was seconds old, but there are also times that Felicity watches a peaceful sleep and remembers the way she used to rock her to slumber and it’s almost the same. “It’s scary because you never love someone so much as you do when you get to be a Mom to them.”

“But you love Daddy a lot,” Ava tells her.

“I do. I love Daddy with all my heart,” she says lightly.

“Is it the same?” she asks.

“No,” Felicity tells her. “I love Daddy because he’s my soulmate, and I choose to love him because he chooses to love me. But I love you because we made you and you’re a part of us.”

Ava thinks about this for a moment, lifting her head with a look of calculation. “Is that more or less than Daddy?” she asks slowly.

“It’s the same but different,” she explains. “I love you because when you were in my belly, you were really close to my heart, and I always want you to be in my heart.”

“Sara Diggle says I came out of your vajayjay,” she counters quickly.

“Yeah, unfortunately for you I didn’t have any holes in my heart, so you had to come out of that one,” she told her, screwing up her nose slightly in a tease that has her daughter giggling. Boy parts and girl parts are a constant wonder to her five year old, who thankfully, hasn’t asked her how babies get into bodies, only where they come out.

“So you love me as much as you love Daddy?” Ava repeats.

“I do. You and Daddy are my favourite people in the world.”

“That’s good, because you and Daddy are my favourite people in the world,” she says calmly, leaning over the table to get the green pen Felicity had put back a while ago and steal it to finish colouring in her unicorn horn.

“Oh yeah?” Felicity asks.

“Yeah, and that’s a lot of love,” Ava tells her pointedly.

“It sounds like a lot of love,” she nods. “You must have a very big heart to love us that much.”

“Uh huh,” Ava nods, still not looking up from her colouring. “That means when I get to be a Mom then I can grow my babies there too.”

“It does,” Felicity smiled, suddenly struck by the idea that not all that far into the future, her daughter’s going to be having babies of her own, and Felicity’s going to have grandchildren. She wonders whether Oliver would be more protective of a granddaughter than he is of his daughter. “Do you want to be a Mom one day?” she asks.

Ava nods. “Only if I get to be as good a Mom as you are.”

“Yeah? How are you going to do that?” she wonders.

“With lots of cuddles, and kisses, and Disney movies, and special Mommy-and-Me trips.”

She grins, because sometimes she wonders if her little girl enjoys the same parts of their bond that she does. Sure, she loves playing in the tub with her, but Ava hates bathtime, so they compromise, but the Mommy-and-Me trips and the Disney movies are special moments that Daddy just doesn’t understand because he’s far too in love with Die Hard at Christmas and doesn’t understand the appeals of Elf. “Speaking of our trips, you have to decide where you want to go next Saturday. It’s your turn to choose,” she points out.

“Is Daddy coming?” Ava asks.

“Daddy’s going to help Uncle Barry with something very important, so it’s just you and me. Where do you want to go?”

“Africa.” Ava decides quickly.

“Why Africa?” she frowns.

“Because I want to meet Aladdin.”

So it’s the Princess Jasmine outfit for her birthday, then. That didn’t even take subtle questioning. “I don’t think we’ll have enough time to go to Africa, hon.”

“Oh,” she sighs, but her disappointment only lasts for a moment. “Can we go to the zoo then?”

“Yeah, we can. Do you think the panda will have it’s baby before then?” she wonders aloud, thinking back to the news coverage they make sure to look up online at least once a day.

“Yeah, on Friday,” she guesses.

“Friday? Well, I think it’s going to be born on Thursday.” Felicity counters.

Ava fixes her with a look that screams ‘really, Mom?’. “It’s definitely going to be Friday.”

“And we need to get a panda stuffed animal for our collection too,” Felicity decides.

“Do you know my friend Danielle at school?” Ava deviates slightly.

The little brat with the pigtails that tugged Ava’s ponytail once? “Yeah, I remember her.”

“Her Mom doesn’t do special things for her like you do for me.”

She allows herself to smirk at that. There are times - only twenty-three hours of the day - that she feels she’s guessing at this ‘mom’ gig, but then she remembers that her daughter thinks she’s the most amazing person in the planet and that goes away. “That’s because Danielle’s Mom isn’t as good as I am.”

“Yeah, you’re the best.”

She steals the pink pen out of Ava’s hand. “Make sure you tell Daddy that when he comes home.”

“But Daddy’s the best too,” she reasons.

“Nuh-uh,” she teases. “I’m going to tell him I’m your favourite in the whole world.”

“No!” Ava gasps out in protest.

“Yeah, I’m gonna tell him,” she grins.

And if this is as good as life gets? Then she’s hit the jackpot.


	72. What's Mine Isn't Yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Hi sorry I don’t I don’t know what’s up with prompts at the moment. So feel free to say no. Anyways I have just had this idea in my head and had to share it: Oliver doesn’t think Andy is good enough for Ava, because he doesn’t think anyone is good enough for his little girl. And Andy asks Oliver for his permission to ask Ava to marry him. And maybe at first Oliver says no but eventually says yes. I don’t know. I would just really like to see protective dad Oliver:)

“Mr Queen?”

“Andy? What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s late. I spoke to Felicity but she said you were still up and to come on in-”

“It’s no problem, really. I didn’t realise how late it was. I should be heading home.”

“I was wondering if we could…talk first?”

“Here?”

“Anywhere.”

“…Is everything okay?”

“I hope so.”

“Does this have to do with why you’re calling me Mr Queen? Andy, come on. I’ve known you since the day you were born. I’m never Mr Queen to you. What’s on your mind?”

“I…want to ask your permission for something.”

“Isn’t that something you should be asking your father?”

“No, it’s something I should be asking Ava’s father.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Andy, sit down.”

“That sounds bad.”

“I just….are you sure that you’ve thought this through?”

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

“This is a big thing you’re talking about, with my baby girl.”

“I love Ava, Mr. Queen. I want to marry her.”

“Marriage is a huge step, Andy. I’m…”

“You don’t want me to marry her.”

“I’m not sure you’re ready to be a husband.”

“Maybe not for other girls, but for Ava, I’m ready.”

“It’s not just you being ready that concerns me.”

“Ava loves me.”

“She also loves chocolate milk, and there are still times she doesn’t want it.”

“It’s different for us, Mr. Queen.”

“Andy, I know that you’re coming to me with a grand gesture of having her father’s approval, but my decision here has to be based on how well I know my daughter, and I know that my daughter isn’t ready to be married yet.”

“I know we’re young, but-”

“You’re too young, Andy. You both are. Marriage takes an awful lot of sacrifice and trust and growth. You have to completely give yourself over to the other person and know that they have your best interests at heart, and that you can grow old with them knowing that no matter what the sacrifices you have to endure, you’ll do it together.”

“Ava is that person for me. We’re that person for each other.”

“Andy, you’re too young.”

“You’re not going to give me your permission, are you?”

“I’m sorry, Andy, but my answer is no.”

“I hope you know I’m going to change your mind about this.”

“I look forward to it…and Andy?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Can you at least wait until after your senior year to ask me next time?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home. You’ve got school tomorrow and I’m pretty sure you still have a bedtime.”

“Ava doesn’t have a bedtime.”

“Ava’s fourteen years old and she has a boyfriend, of course she has a bedtime.”


	73. Monsters in the Closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> I saw a post about how you like to do things with Oliver and Felicity having normal issues. Things outside their vigilante life. I wondered whether you could do a future fic where Felicity struggles to sleep at night (cos she’s used to vigilante all nighters) and her kids ask her why…

“Mommy?”

The soft voice was a distraction from the tablet in her hands. Ava’s birthday was coming up, and Felicity had become far too invested in their shared Pinterest account to get ideas for her party. She would be eight this year, and wanted something she could invite her friends too. But the tiny voice lifted her attention and she pushed her glasses up to see her five-year-old peeking around the half-open door.

“Tommy, hon. What are you doing up?” she asked, pushing herself up and putting the tablet aside.

“I had a bad dream,” he told her, dipping his head a little. “Can I get in your bed?”

“Come here,” she replied straight away, pushing the duvet back on Oliver’s side. “Come tell me all about it.”

Tommy scurried into the room with his bear clutched in one hand - a brown bear wearing a Flash outfit which Barry had gifted him last year and he’d become really attached to. “It was really scary,” he announced as he settled right in the centre of the two pillows.

“Real scary or fake scary?” Felicity asked as her arms looped around him and gathered him up in a warm combination of her arms and the duvet.

“Fake scary, I think,” he decided.

“What happened?”

“I dreamed there was something hiding in my closet and it was saying my name and that it was going to come and get me. But that’s not real, is it?” he asked, tilting his head up to look at her.

“No, that’s not real, baby,” she assured him, kissing his forehead. “Nothing could ever come take you away.”

“Daddy wouldn’t let that happen, would he?” he added.

“Not in a million years, and neither would I.You’re perfectly safe. You’re very brave tonight too,” she noted, stroking his head back into place.

“How?”

“You were scared and you made it all the way to Mommy’s bed all on your own,” she pointed out.

“I had Flash-bear with me,” he told her guilty, tucking the bear in properly under the blanket like she had done to him.

“You do, but you still had to be really brave to do that. I think Daddy’s going to be really proud of that,” she boasted.

He tilted his head and looked pleased at her declaration. “Can we tell him?”

“We’ll have to tell him in the morning. He’s working tonight,” she reminded him.

“Okay,” he accepted quickly, ducking his head into the groove over her elbow and snuggling his face into her stomach.

“Tired, big guy?” she asked softly, her finger tracing his cheek. It was still red where he’d been leaning it into his pillow for so long, and this - these precious middle-of-the-night cuddles - was something she adored. He used to nestle his face into her stomach any time he napped with her, a lingering trait from infancy that still made her heart jump.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

“Want to sleep in here? Keep me company until Daddy comes home?”

He nodded, then rolled his head up to look at her. “Are you sleeping too?”

“Not yet, Mommy’s not tired yet.”

Tommy frowned at her answer. “I only see you sleeping like…three times in a whole year,” he told her, pausing to count on his fingers.

“Really? That’s not much, is it?” she humored him.

“Don’t you sleep?”

She laughed a little at his reply. “I can’t go to bed early any more.”

“Why not?”

_Because I used to just start my working hours at your bedtime. Because I need to make sure I’m awake if your Dad calls. Because I might need to patch up his booboos before we go to sleep. Because I still feel the need to hack something dangerous._

“Well, I used to work at night with Daddy, and we used to stay up really, really late to get all our work done, so we got used to it,” she explained.

“Why don’t you go to work with Daddy still if you’re awake?” he suggested.

“Because I want to be here with you instead.”

“But we’re sleeping,” he blinked.

“I know, but it wouldn’t be very nice if you woke up and you were all alone, would it?” she murmured, sinking down a little in the pile of pillows she’d created so they could lay comfortably.

“No. I wouldn’t like that very much.”

“Besides, I don’t like being away from you and your sister,” she added, kissing his forehead.

“Does Daddy like it?”

“No, he doesn’t,” she murmured, thinking of all the nights he’d slink in guiltily, trying not to wake the children as Felicity stitched up a bullet wound.

“Then why does he work at night?”

“Because he wants us to be safe,” she whispered. “I go to work during the day so he can be here with you, and then he works at night so I can be here with you.”

“That’s clever,” Tommy praised.

“I know, that’s why we do it.”

“Do you miss working at night?” he asked her, and the genuine concern in his small voice made her heart break a little. Her boy was far too in touch with other people’s feelings, and as he grew, she was starting to suspect he got that from Oliver.

“Sometimes, but do you know what I’m like a whole lot more?”

“What?”

“Being your Mom,” she whispered to him like it was a special secret.

“I like you being my Mom too,” he whispered back.

She grinned, because she had to, because telling her children that she loved them was the easiest thing in the world, but hearing it back was something she still wasn’t used to, something that was still special. “Yeah? Do you think you’ll keep me then? No trading me in for a new Mom?”

“No, because they might not play Minecraft with me.”

She gave a fake gasp. “That sounds like a really boring Mom.”

“Exactly,” he grumbled, half the word hidden in a wide yawn.

“Go to sleep, tired boy. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She ducked her head, planting a kiss on the top of his head.

“Love you, Mommy.”

“I love you too, Tommy.”


	74. Things We Do For Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here she is, baby number 3!

Her heels clack against the linoleum as she paces the floor, and he’s drawn to the sound he knows so well. The shoes look out of place, glittered sandals accenting pyjamas that had matching rhinestones - something he’s pretty sure is part of every outfit she owns - but the fingernails she cherishes and displays so readily are half-bitten down judging from her posture, and when she sees him walking towards her, she rushed over, her hands grabbing at him for some kind of answers, something solid she can grasp that eases a tired and frantic mind.

“Is Felicity okay? The baby?”

He nods, bringing his arms up to cover hers. Just the slight movement of his head has her relaxing her shoulders, but she waits for him to speak. It takes him a moment, because this night has not been without it’s heartache, and the thoughts of what might have happened are still fresh in his mind and those thoughts are toxic and tightening his throat.

“They’re fine, they’re both resting,” he sighs heavily. “They might give Felicity a blood transfusion in the morning though, if her counts aren’t up, but the doctors are happy that they’re both doing good and we’ll have them home in a few days.”

“Oh, thank god,” she sags against him, the two of them embracing each other as tightly as they can to bring an end to this nightmare of a day. It started at five-am that morning, and now, nearing midnight, it finally feels like the day may be coming to a close.

“They’re not even going to take the baby up to the NICU,” Oliver breathes with relief, pulling back from her as she settles her hands on his shoulders, something remarkably motherly that he’s never adjusted to the weight of, or how he much he’s come to rely on it. “Once we held her for a while her temperature came right up and they’re happy as long as we can keep her that way.”

“So they’re both completely okay?” she checks one final time.

“Thanks to you, yeah,” he assures her.

She starts to shake her head. “I didn’t do anything, Oliver-”

“Donna, there’s a high chance that one of them wouldn’t have made if it you hadn’t have done what you did, and I…I can’t ever thank you enough for that.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“No, Donna, really. Thank you,” he repeats, his voice finally regaining the certainty he hasn’t felt much of today.

Because she was there. Because as the sun was coming up, when Felicity was feeling out of sorts, Donna was the one who called Thea over to stay with the elder two children and got her to the hospital. Donna was the one who called Oliver until she could get through to him, who got him home in the early hours of the morning from Central City and had him at the hospital while Felicity was fading. Donna was the one who held Felicity’s hands when she couldn’t hold back any more and had to push, and Donna was the one who held her as she cried when they took her seconds old baby away.

“We do anything for family,” she whispered tearfully.

“Come with me,” he tells her, tugging on her hand back towards the door to the room where Felicity is resting.

She shakes her head, pulling her hand back. “No, no, let them rest. This is a precious moment, Oliver. Spend this night with your new baby, and I’ll go take over from your sister with the others.”

“Donna, just five minutes,” he tells her with a smile, that proud brand new I’m-a-father smile that suits this man so well it almost isn’t fair. “Come meet her. We want you to be first.”

And it’s still her granddaughter, so how can she resist?

—

The baby is beautiful, there’s no other word for it. This baby has the grace of a newborn child that has survived more than she should have endured at such a young age. She has survived a dangerous birth, and Donna can hardly believe that she’s here and breathing and squirming gently in her father’s arms when twelve hours ago she was holding her own crying daughter when they announced that there was a problem with the heartbeat on the ultrasound.

“Oh, honey…she’s so beautiful,” she tears up, her arms looping around her daughter’s shoulders to carefully embrace her. “She looks so much like you.”

“That’s what Oliver said,” Felicity replies, her voice drained and exhausted, but there’s a content smile on her lips that hasn’t faded, and there’s one thing that Donna loves more in the world than anything else - and that’s the smile her daughter has for her babies.

“He says you’ll be home by the weekend,” Donna notes, glad when Felicity nods to that. She’s not a fan of hospitals, but as eager as she is to get her baby home, Felicity also won’t risk the health of her child to take her home so soon.

“Yeah,” she says with enough relief that it brings tears to her eyes, “as soon as they’re happy we can regulate her temperature.”

Seeing the strain still evident beneath the smile, Donna places a firm kiss on her daughter’s temple, stroking her hair back after the same way she would when she used to put her to bed each night. “You did good, sweetheart. You did really good.”

Felicity leans into her mother’s hand, kissing her wrist because reaching for anything further is beyond the energy store she has left. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Sure you could,” Donna brushes it off.

“Mom…this was scary,” she confesses, her eyes flickering over to the mass of blankets in Oliver’s arms as he paced by the window with her, soothing her with a gentle rock that he perfected weeks into their first child and now comes naturally with their third.

“It was,” Donna agrees. “But you weren’t alone.”

“I wasn’t. I had you,” she smiles.

“You’ve always got me, baby girl.”

“You’ve always been there for me, even when I didn’t want to see it,” she whispers, her eyes tearing up.

“Come on now, hon. Don’t go making us both cry, you’re hormonal and I’m a grandmother,” Donna warns her, choking out a laugh that isn’t quite humored enough to settle them.

“I mean it, Mom. This whole pregnancy has been…horrible, to be honest. It’s been terrifying. And every time I needed you, you were right there.”

And she’d not have been anywhere else. Donna moved to Starling when Ava was six months old, officially, at least. She’d visited when her daughter asked her to and never really left, and having a grandchild was more than enough reason to leave her one-bed apartment in Vegas. But this pregnancy has been harder than either of Felicity’s first two, and now that the baby is here it’s like being able to breathe for the first time. Donna had been there for each middle of the night concern, each time that she needed someone to take the children out so she could get some much needed sleep, and each time she wondered whether or not she’d even have enough love in her heart for three children.

“You’re my daughter,” she kisses her cheek again. “You know you’d do the same with Ava, and now with this little one. We do what we have to for our girls, no question.”

“We wouldn’t be the family we are without you,” Felicity tells her, clearing her throat as she reaches her other arm out. “Oliver, bring her over…” she says quietly, but her soft tone is enough to grab his attention in the quiet room. The baby is fast asleep, so when he goes to hand her to Felicity she shakes her head and nods at her mother, nudging her towards Oliver. “Here, take her…”

Donna settles on the edge of the bed, nestled in with her shoulder against Felicity’s as she took her granddaughter into her arms. The breath leaves her chest, because this is by far the smallest baby she’s ever held, which is saying something because Felicity was so damn small, but this baby isn’t just tiny, she’s delicate. She’s a level of new they aren’t ready for, and she can see why they’re in no rush to take her from the hospital because she is far too new for this world, and if this terrifies her, she can only imagine how much it terrifies them.

“She’s the only one we couldn’t name before we met her, and now we know why,” Oliver tells her, his eyes meeting Felicity’s before he perches on the edge of the opposite side of the bed with one hand resting over Felicity’s knee and the other grasping her hand.

“You picked her a name?” Donna asks. They’ve been pouring over the baby name books for months, but they haven’t been able to settle on one as each suggestion ‘wasn’t right’.

“Her name is Rose Donna Queen,” Felicity says proudly, “but we’re going to call her Rosie.”

Donna stops for a moment, her hand paused where it’s gently stroking over the newborn’s tiny nose. Her grandchildren had always had names of great meaning, and she knew that Felicity and Oliver honored their lost loved ones by bringing their names into their future, to immortalise their sacrifices in the names of the children they love more than anything else on this world. They remember Oliver’s mother, his father, his fallen friend, and now…

“Rose is my middle name…” she realises slowly.

“We figured it wasn’t fair to have two Donna’s in the family,” Felicity smiles at her.

“You’ve named her after me?” she chokes out, tears hitting her cheek before she even realises she’s welling up.

“Ava and Tommy have namesakes who we hope watch over them…” Oliver explains, leaning over and touching his fingertip to his sleeping daughter’s nose. “Ava has my mother, and Tommy has my best friend, and my father…but this one…she’s had someone watching over her who’s still here, and we…there was no other name for her.”

“Rosie Queen….I think I’m going to cry,” Donna sniffs, her voice tight and high-pitched.

“Mom, you’re already crying,” Felicity points out.

“So are you two,” she shoots back, not making any move to wipe her damp cheeks.

“At least she isn’t,” Oliver adds, with a hopeful glance at the baby. “Maybe we’ll get a quiet baby this time around,” he mutters to Felicity.

“Then are you attached to the name?” Donna checks. “Because I was not a quiet baby, and neither was Felicity, and–oh,” she stops when Felicity tosses her arms around her mother and squeezes her tightly.

“We’re very attached to you, Mom,” she insists.

There’s a small squeak, then another, and suddenly the child in the middle of this embrace seems less happy to be there. She starts to cry with a wail that’s remarkably similar to Ava’s hot temper when she was younger, and Donna laughs, lifting her a little higher into her arms with a broad a smile at the newborn.

“There it is, I knew there was some Smoak in you.”


	75. Speaking Words of Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Dialogue Prompt: Ava and Oliver have a daddy daughter talk the night before Ava’s wedding!

“Dad?”

“Hey, what are you doing awake?”

“Couldn’t sleep. Too many thoughts.”

“I hope you’re not getting cold feet.”

“Nah, my socks are too warm for that.”

“Come join me, I can’t sleep either.”

“I guess mom’s flat out by now?”

“She fell asleep hours ago.”

“I’m not surprised, she had Grandma Donna squealing at her all night.”

“You should be grateful that she kept her off your shoulder, she really took one for the team there.”

“She really likes weddings, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, but it’s…important when it comes to you girls.”

“Why?”

“There’s a reason your grandfather isn’t part of your life. He…wasn’t a good man.”

“Like in a ‘you have failed this city’ kinda way?”

“Worse. He was a bad father, a worse husband. Your mother loved him when he was around, but she was too young to see the dark side of him. He was cruel to them, left them…”

“Did he ever come back for them?”

“Once, when you were young. Before Tommy was born.”

“What happened?”

“He looked us all up, decided that he wanted to meet his grandchildren, because it had hit the media that your mom was pregnant again. Your grandmother refused to see him from the start, but your mother and I talked about it, because you were involved.”

“What made you decide not to?”

“Because you were involved. He wasn’t interested in a family. He wanted the glory, and neither of us would have him hurt you the way he’s hurt this family before.”

“I think you made the right choice.”

“We’ve never regretted it. It was the easiest choice we ever made where you were concerned.”

“Really?”

“You were our first baby. You took us by surprise at every turn.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. Don’t ever apologise for being you. Because you… we knew we were going to love you, but god, Ava, we had no idea how much. When you know you’re going to be a parent, you prepare yourself for this wave of emotion everyone tells you about, when you hold your baby and you just fall in love with them. It just… the first time I held you, there was…nothing like it. I can’t even put it into words. I just loved you from that first time I held you, so strong, so overwhelming…and that never really goes away.”

“You’re gonna make me cry, Dad.”

“I think that’s fair. You made me cry.”

“Uncle Digg tells that story a lot.”

“You’re probably going to make me cry tomorrow as well.”

“Good tears though, right?”

“A bit of both. Because that first time I held you, I never imagined that I’d be giving you away some day. Tomorrow’s come around too soon.”

“I’m twenty-six, Dad.”

“I know. That’s the same age your mother was when we got together.”

“You know I’m not going anywhere, right?”

“You’re not going to be my little Queen anymore, though.”

“I’m keeping the Queen name, you know. I’m hyphenating.”

“You are?”

“Didn’t Mom tell you? I finally decided earlier.”

“She was exhausted, she fell asleep before we could talk properly.”

“So I’ll be a Queen-Diggle.”

“We used to joke about that, before you were born. Back when Sara was born.”

“Really?”

“Digg always thought it would be my son stealing his daughter away from him.”

“Kinda makes it even more adorable when Tommy had that crush on her.”

“I had a lot of fun with that.”

“I’ll bet.”

“You don’t need to worry about Andy.”

“What makes you think I’m worried?”

“I know you, Ava. Andy’s a good man. He’s always been what you need.”

“And what do I need?”

“Someone who challenges you. Someone who encourages you to be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be.”

“What if I don’t know who that person is yet?”

“Then he’ll help you find out who that person is. And one day you’ll realise you were that person all along.”

“Is that what Mom did for you?”

“She still does, every day.”

“When did you know?”

“One day I came home from work, and your mother was exhausted because you and Tommy had been driving her insane all day, and your sister was screaming. The house was a mess, it was just…a bad day for everyone. We were all grumpy, we were all tired, and we just…came together. It took about ten minutes, but I took you and Tommy up for a bath, got you laughing, ready for bed, tucked in, and I went downstairs and your mother and sister were fast asleep on the couch. And it didn’t matter about anything else because on our most stressful day, I didn’t want to be anyone else. Oliver Queen didn’t matter anymore, the only person that I wanted to be was the husband and father that I was, and I knew I’d been that person for a long time.”

“You’re a really good Dad, though. Even when we fought, I can’t remember a time where I thought you were a bad Dad.”

“You were a good daughter.”

“Were?”

“Well, you are leaving me for another man tomorrow.”

“I’m getting married, Dad. You can’t keep me forever.”

“Hmm, maybe I’ll make a kidnap plea in the night. We can be over the Mexican border by sunrise.”

“That’s not funny.”

“I’m being serious. I don’t think I’m ready to see my baby girl in a wedding dress.”

“You’re worried you’re going to cry, aren’t you?”

“Oh, I know I’m going to cry.”

“Dad…”

“I’m kidding.”

“Thank you.”

“With your hair, it’ll be far easier to hide you in Europe than Mexico.”

“Dad! You’ve still got an unmarried daughter to worry about.”

“She’s going to stay that way, too.”

“I don’t think that R-”

“She’s my youngest baby and she’ll never leave me.”

“Did you teach her to say that?”

“I’ve been working on that since the day she was born. Now, off to bed. Your grandmother will give me hell if she has to cover up dark circles under your eyes tomorrow.”

“Good night, Dad. I love you.”

“I love you too. Always will.”

“I know.”

“That’s stronger than a husband’s love.”

“Dad!”

“I’m just saying.”


	76. Don't Leave Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Prompt: Felicity gets kidnapped and Oliver has trouble focusing on being a father to Ava and Tommy while she’s gone

“Oliver, there’s nothing more we can do.”

Those were the words he didn’t want to hear, yet they were the words that fell easily from Diggle’s sigh. Oliver clenched his first in response, his shoulders squared as he paced away from his bow case. Every time he reached towards his quiver he was reminded that he didn’t have a direction for his aim, and that unsettled him.

“Of course there is, we need to-”

“We need to wait for the traces to finish and for Lance to get the information,” Diggle spoke over him. “It’s going to be a few hours at least.”

Oliver let out a frustrated growl in the back of his throat, the sound dangerous to anyone who didn’t know him as well as Diggle did. “I can’t just do nothing, Digg. She’s out there,” he pointed out, his arm gestured to the screens running traces - traces that would be running far quicker if Felicity where there to run them.

“And she’s alive. If she were anything but, they’d have used it against us by now.”

Oliver’s silent at that, because Diggle has a point. There’s no way that she’d be dead because her body would have been paraded around the city as a display by now. Instead, there was nothing but an eerie silence that after twenty-four hours was terrifying.

“The kids are exhausted, Oliver,” Diggle said, lowering his voice as his gaze fell on the two children colouring-in at the table. He knew Diggle was right, this was no place for them, but with Felicity nowhere to be found, nowhere else felt as safe for them as here. Take your children home, put them to bed…”

“I can’t-”

“You have to,” Diggle cut him off. “You think you’re scared, think how they feel.”

He sighed, his hands tensing and uncurling again as his rage turned to a helplessness. “I don’t have anything to make them feel better.”

“They need their father,” Diggle said simply.

“They want their mother,” he corrected him.

“Take them home, Oliver.”

—

“I want Mommy to do it.”

“You need to let me do it, Ava.”

“No!”

Oliver bit back a burst of anger in his chest, because he was coming very close to really shouting at his six-year-old because she wouldn’t let him wash his hair. Tommy had been easy to deal with. At four years old, he reached a point of exhaustion where he’d fallen asleep on the couch so it had been easy for Oliver to lift him into bed without disturbing him, but Ava? She was a force to be reckoned with tonight, and Oliver’s scraps of patience were failing him.

“Ava, sit still, I don’t want to pull your hair,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You’re not doing it right!” she shouted at him.

He bit his lip, swallowing down his initial shout and speaking quieter. “I am, Ava, you just need to sit still-”

“I want _Mommy_ to do it!” she shouted again, her face screwed up and red as she slammed her hands down upon the surface of the water.

His temper was rising, his control slipping and this time, he didn’t have the reassuring touch of his wife’s hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t ever shouted at his children before - scolded, yes, disciplined, yes, but shouted? Never. “Mommy can’t do it, Ava, you have to let me do it-”

“No, _Mommy_!” she wailed.

“Ava, stop it.”

“No!” she protested even louder.

“I said, _stop it_!” he snapped.

“ _NO! I WANT MOMMY!_ ” she screamed, this time taking the shampoo bottle from his hand and throwing it across the bathroom. The bottle splattered, the lid not quite settled so the impact sent a spray of pink liquid down the wall.

“ _I WANT MOMMY TOO_!” he shouted back, his hand smacking against the water just as hers did.

She flinched, eyes widening in sheer shock of her father - her favourite person - shouting her. Her tiny lips parted, watery orbs of blue staring back at him like she was about to cry. He knew this look in her eye, it’s the look she had last Christmas when he let go of her hand for just a second and the next thing he knew she was screaming for him by the Christmas tree.

”I want her too, okay?” he repeated, his voice breaking dangerously for the first time since Felicity had gone missing. He’d been trying to keep it together for the kids but now his eyes were burning and he felt like he was choking. “But we have to wait for her to come home but that means I am going to take care of you right now, but _dammit_ Ava I need you to _help me_. Please, baby, I am trying. I’m _trying_ , but I miss Mommy too and I want her to come home, but I need you to be on my side.”

She fell silent, only breaking her peace by ragged breaths that were building… building… building… and then after her eighth breath she drew in a long inward sob that had him lifting her tiny form out of the bathtub and straight into the towel over her lap.

“I want Mommy,” she sobbed as her arms flew around his shoulders.

“I know. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he repeated, unable to assure her of any of the certainties other than that he hadn’t meant to shout at her. He rubbed her back through the towel, drying her off through the embrace.

“Bring her home, Daddy,” she wailed, clinging tighter to him. “Go get her.”

“I can’t, baby,” he sighed, his head rested atop hers despite the damp locks that soak his chin. “I wish I could but I can’t.”

“But I want her,” she protested.

“I want her too,” he said, not holding back the small sob of his own.

–

“Ava. Ava.”

He heard the tiny pad of feet across the carpet first, and he was on his feet the second he heard the movement, abandoning his spot on the couch and sprinting quietly up the stairs to the room his children shared. They spent so many nights sneaking into each other’s room that it just made sense to try it, and usually they had no problems, but tonight seemed to be a night of bed hopping. Oliver paused in the doorway, listening to the hushed voices.

“Tommy, go to sleep,” Ava grumbled, and he can hear from her tone that she hasn’t even removed the duvet from her face.

“I can’t sleep,” Tommy whined quietly.

Ava huffed. “Go to sleep, or you’ll make Daddy mad.”

Oliver swallowed at her words. He hadn’t apologised properly for shouting at her, but she hadn’t apologised either. Perhaps some mutual recognition that they were handling this situation badly was needed, but not yet. He leaned sank to the floor outside their slightly ajar bedroom door, neither of them knowing he was there.

“I think he was crying,” Tommy muttered. “Does he miss Mommy?”

“We all miss Mommy,” Ava replied.

“Can I get in your bed?”

“Just for a little while.”

–

The text message comes through an hour later. It takes fifteen minutes in total. For Digg to get her home. For him to lock the door behind her. Until he has her in his arms against the wall, his lips against hers like he was never going to see her again. Until they’re sat on the floor of their children’s bedroom, watching the two sleeping children curl around each other. 

–

“Don’t leave us again,” Ava declared at breakfast the next morning. “Daddy’s stupid without you.”

Felicity just arched an eyebrow in her husband’s direction as she continued pouring her son’s cereal. All Oliver could do was shrug.

“Don’t leave us again,” he repeated. “Ava’s stupid without you.”


	77. Oh, My Beautiful Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2) Tommy’s first girlfriend and his parents’ reactions — superfirefox99

“You don’t like her.”

“Of course not.”

“Felicity, she’s smart, she’s top of her class.”

“So?”

“So, she’s pretty, she’s-”

“You think she’s pretty?”

“For a fourteen year old girl, yeah. Can you stop turning this around on me?”

“Well, you’re the one who likes her so much.”

“Isn’t the most important thing that Tommy likes her?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Felicity, this is an important night for Tommy, your opinion matters to him.”

“Well my opinion is-”

“Important. To. Your. Son.”

“You can hardly talk, Oliver. When Ava brought a boy around-”

“That was different.”

“How, exactly?”

“Because she’s my little girl.”

“And Tommy’s my little boy. My only little boy.”

“Ava’s my first little girl.”

“You’ve got another little girl.”

“And she’s not bringing boys home yet.”

“This is hard for me, Oliver.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t,”

“I do, do you know why? Because he knows that he likes this girl, and he brought her home to us because we’re important to him and she’s important to him. And look at the girl he picked. She’s smart, so smart, and she’s pretty, and who does that remind you of?”

“Half the world.”

“You. She reminds me of you, Felicity. You are the first woman Tommy ever loved, because you’re his mother, and no one will ever compare to that, so of course he’s going to go after strong women with a brain.”

“You’re just trying to quick charm me.”

“Well, you did say you were getting a jug of water from the table, and I’m pretty sure our precious youngest girl is listening around the corner despite the fact that it is _past her bedtime_.”

“Those are some mad dad skills, hon.”

“Did they work?”

“I can hear footsteps on the stairs, she’s gone.”

“So, can we go back to the table now?”

“If we have to.”

“We have to.”


	78. Feeding Time at the Zoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Ava Promp: Oliver trying to feed her, but she does not want to eat. The he tried to show her that is really tasty, and realizes that actually it is, then both eat it all and goes for more.

“Oliver?”

“Yeah, hon?”

“What happened to the last three jars of Ava’s food?”

“They’re in the cupboard.”

“No, they were in the cupboard this morning. That’s not where they are now.”

“No, they were in there, definitely.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I saw them when I fed her lunch.”

“…and there were definitely three?”

“Yeah, and then we…oh.”

“Oh?”

“…there was a little incident with lunch, and we may have used more than one jar.”

“What kind of incident?”

“She..threw it everywhere.”

“What?”

“Yeah, she was just in a really bad mood today and-”

“Bullfrack.”

“What?”

“You heard me. She hasn’t thrown her food around in weeks. She loves mealtimes.”

“She must have been having an off day.”

“Is that…?”

“It’s nothing.”

“That’s banana mush on your chin.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Let me just-”

“Felicity, no-”

“See! You’ve been eating her food!”

“I wasn’t deliberately eating it.”

“Oliver, what are we going to feed her tonight? I can’t get to a store at this time, and I’m not driving out to the one in the Glades and-”

“I just got a little on me and I tasted it and it wasn’t that bad-”

“But the banana one?”

“…and the apple. That one was really good.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll go out to the store.”

“Good, because she’s hungry and she’s going to want food after her bath.”

“Okay, you stay here and bathe her, I’ll be back soon.”

“Oliver?”

“Yeah?”

“Get more of the chocolate pudding ones. I really like—-think Ava likes those ones.”


	79. Deep Burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> orangeisorange said: Prompt: Olicity in bed together sometime in season 4: Felicity is touching the burn mark on his lower back, which he’s self-conscious about, telling him how beautiful he is. “You’re only saying that because you’re biased”. Then a continuation when they’re in bed with Ava a couple years later, and she’s looking at the same scar saying she likes it. As always my thoughts are a jumbled mess of fluff. Just sugary sugary fluff
> 
> Anonymous said: I just had this prompt idea AND I THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT…..: Oliver telling Ava and tommy about how he really got those Scars. And about his time as the vigilante when they are old enough to hear. It may be a long one but I want to read it so bad!

He first notices it in Nanda Parbat, when her legs are wrapped around his waist and her hands toy at the base of his spine. The afterglow of Felicity Smoak is filled with a need to touch, to revel in the feel of her skin beneath his, and he knows the moment his hand brushes her waist that he’ll never stop touching as long as he has the opportunity. He ignores that he may only have the opportunity for a few short hours.

They gravitate to the centre of the bed, still inhaling deeply in a combination of their need to breath and the unexpected joy that comes from the mere scent of each other. She perches in his lap, her legs around him as he trails lazy kisses over her collarbone, dipping his tongue into the hollow at the base of her throat just to chase the shiver over her skin, and she touches.

Her hands roam his body with the same sense of purpose they apply to a keyboard. She lingers where needed, teases when his breath hitches, and the gasp is audible when she dusts her fingertips over the scar on his lower back. It’s always been more sensitive than the others, something he’s certain would have warranted a skin graft had he had access to any form of medical care when the incident happened, and as a result he swears the nerve endings are more prominent there. So when she walks her fingers across it, he drops his forehead to her shoulder with a small moan.

“I like this one,” she declares, her fingernail tracing circles through the centre of it.

“I don’t,” he mumbles, lifting his head and trailing kisses up her throat until he reaches her jaw.

She hums, and he catalogues the spot where her jaw meets her ear as a spot he definitely needs to revisit. “You don’t like any of them,” she points out.

“Not true,” he mutters, his hand trailing up her spine until it runs a circle around the bullet wound on her shoulder. “I like this one.”

“That’s not yours though,” she teases, arching her back slightly when he touches the centre of it.

“I think it is now,” he declares. “I’m claiming it.”

“Caveman,” she taunts.

He raises his head to hers again, grinning because this is pillow talk with Felicity Smoak, and that’s been at the top of Oliver’s christmas list for some years now.

–

“Was it really from a dragon?” his daughter asks him when she’s eight years old.

Ava has been obsessed with his scars since she was old enough to notice them. She made a game of it at first, trying to guess all the things that could have caused them, from sharks (well, one was true) and fighting bears and climbing mountains and breaking into Batman’s house. The burn on his lower back has always been dragonfire in her eyes and for that reason, it’s all of their favourites.

She likes to tickle it, likes the way it makes his back muscles ripple, and he laughs every time because he loves the sound of her delighted giggle.

It’s a familiar position for their Sunday evening. Felicity’s sprawled out on the couch with their son tucked under her arm, her reading his latest speech while their little boy plays on his tablet (they look so alike, with matching looks of concentration). While they have their screen time, Oliver and his daughter have a little of their own. He lays on the floor on his stomach, propped up on his forearms while Ava sits on his butt and traces his scars.

When she asks about his scar, he feels the room go silent around them, feels the rush of cold go through him because even he’s started to believe the children’s stories about his scars, feels the touch of Felicity’s foot against his as an assurance that he can answer how he feels is best.

“No,” he whispers, looking down at the carpet.

“Where did it come from?” she asks.

“A bad person set a fire, and it caused an explosion that I was standing very close to.”

“Does it hurt?” she asks, her touching of it become more hesitant.

He shifts completely so that he’s lying on his back and she’s sat on his stomach looking down at him. He can see now that her face is a tiny scowl, that there’s upset in her eyes, and this is not how he wants his beautiful daughter to look. Ava is the first thing he’s done that’s pure and innocent and perfect, and as much as he loves all his children, he will always praise her as the one who showed him he could be so much more than the man he was before. She made him Daddy, gave a true purpose to his sleepless nights, and the idea of his pain making her frown makes him want to heal all the more.

“It hurt a lot when it happened,” he explains to her. “But it hasn’t hurt me for a long time now.”

“So it doesn’t hurt when I touch it?” she checks.

He taps his hands against her legs, turning it into a gentle tickle of her sides. “You never hurt me,” he assures her.

“Why do bad people do bad things?” she asks.

Surprisingly, Oliver feels that’s a far more loaded question than her first one. “Sometimes when people do bad things to people, it makes them believe that the bad things are what’s supposed to happen, and they go on to do bad things to.”

Her frown deepens. “Did you ever do bad things?” she asks.

“Lots of them,” he answers, reaching up to tighten the hair band on her left braid. “But I was very lucky to find your Mom, because she helped me turn my bad parts into good parts.”

“And now you’re all good parts,” she breaks into a smile.

“You think so?” he asks, matching her smile.

She nods, leaning down and nuzzling her nose against his. Eskimo kisses were something she started doing as a toddler and never grew out of. As she’s gotten older, she declares that it’s because they’re kisses and you can smile at the same time, and Oliver can’t argue with that kind of logic.

“But do you want to know something really awesome?” he asks her in a loud whisper.

“Yeah,” she says, matching his tone.

“You were right about the shark bite.”


	80. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> Ava and Felicity have “the talk”

“Honey, come here. We need to talk.”

“Right now?”

“Yes, come on.”

“But Andy’s waiting for me and-”

“That’s why it needs to be now.”

“Okay, what’s so important?”

“Hon, I know this is your first…boy-girl sleepover and I think there’s a few things we should talk about before that.”

“Oh no.”

“Because you’re fifteen years old and we really need to-”

“Oh, GOD no. Mom, please-”

“No, Ava, I know we’ve talked about a few things, but you’re at an age now where choices need to be made and I need to know you’re making the right choices.”

“Do we really have to do this?”

“Yes, because otherwise your father is going to have a stroke.”

“He’s making you do this, isn’t he?”

“Your choice is me, or him.”

“…you.”

“Sit.”

“Can we just…get this over with quickly? I know what sex is, Mom. I’ve read enough–”

“That sentence needs to finish with ‘biology textbooks’ and not ‘fanfiction’.”

“What the-”

“Really? You’re trying to hide your browser history from me? We need to have a talk - another day - about your fandom choices, but today needs to be about your choices.”

“I’m making good choices, Mom.”

“I don’t want you to feel pressured into anything you’re not ready for.”

“Mom, I’m pretty grown up, I think I know what I do and don’t want.”

“You say that, but it’s easy to lose control of that thought when there are other influences around.”

“Mom, I promised I wasn’t going to be drinking at this party.”

“You also promised you were going to stop sneaking out with Andy at night, and let me tell you, it took a lot for me to convince your father that you should still be allowed to go to this party tonight. I love you, but your word isn’t very compelling right now.”

“So, what choices should I be making?”

“Whatever feels right.”

“And what if it feels right for me to be having sex?”

“Then I trust you’ll make the right choice about it.”

“And what is the right choice?”

“To do whatever you want to do, and nothing more, nothing less.”

“But…”

“But what?”

“Mom, there’s got to be a but…”

“But you need to be careful.”

“Oh god.”

“I know you’re taking the Pill, Ava, but like we discussed before, this is a way of regulating your periods, this isn’t an excuse to be having unsafe sex.”

“-because it doesn’t protect against diseases, I know, Mom.”

“I want to be able to trust you to know that if you think you’re mature enough to making your own choices about sex, then you need to consider the consequences that you need to deal with.”

“Okay. I understand the consequences.”

“Consequences aren’t just babies, Ava. They can be…pus-filled and itchy and-”

“Oh God, that’s disgusting.”

“And not all of them are curable, you know-”

“Mom, please. Stop.”

“So we have an understanding here?”

“I guess so.”

“Good, and I need you home by eleven tomorrow morning.”

“What? Why?”

“Because if, for any reason, you forget about this understanding, you are going to be babysitting your sister and her friend for the entire day, and you are going to actually look after them, and your brother, without internet access for the entire day.”

“Please don’t do that.”

“Please don’t make me be a grandmother this young.”

“Please don’t make me look after them.”

“Please don’t make me explain to your father why you’d be taking antibiotics.”

“….”

“Do we have an understanding?”

“Mom-”

“Ava Moira Queen, do we have an understanding?”

“Yes, we have an understanding.”

“Good. Now have fun, make good choices, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”


	81. Man to Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy shares his first beer with his dad — superfirefox99

“What are you doing?”

“Drinking.”

“I can see you’re drinking. I meant why are you drinking alone in the dark?”

“It seems to be a thing I do when things go wrong.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Your sister’s getting married.”

“…oh.”

“You know you’re going to be twenty-one next week.”

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure Mom already took care of my gift.”

“Actually, I did.”

“Oh no.”

“Don’t look at me like that, I buy great gifts.”

“What about Rosie’s eighth birthday?”

“She’s never been near horses before, we didn’t know she was allergic.”

“So are you drinking because Ava’s getting married?”

“My first baby getting married. It’s a big deal. Come here, have a drink with me.”

“It’s not legal.”

“I know you were drinking at parties for the last two years.”

“How did-”

“…Tommy, I know.”

“Oh.”

“But this is your first beer with your Dad. This is a big moment. I was going to wait until you were twenty one, but I think now’s a good time.”

“Alright. Can I have a whiskey?”

“No, you can have a beer.”

“Did you drink beer with your father?”

“Only once. There were parties, and…honestly, I was drunk for most of my early twenties, but the only time we sat down together and drank was after he’d picked me up from the cops. He’d paid everything off and my mother was on her way home…he gave me a drink and told me I’d need it for when she got there.”

“And?”

“He was right.”

“You don’t talk about your Dad much.”

“I guess not.”

“Do you think he would have been drinking alone in the dark if Aunt Thea had got married while he was alive?”

“To your Uncle Roy? He’d have probably been crying alone in the dark.”

“What’s it like, having your first born fly the nest?”

“She flew the nest a long time ago.”

“But now she’s getting married.”

“I know.”

“To the son of your best friend.”

“I know.”

“How did that even happen?”

“Trust me, I’ve been trying to figure that out for fifteen years. You know, when I got married to your mother, I felt like this whole new part of my life was starting but it didn’t really begin until we brought Ava home from the hospital. Everything changed after that. Suddenly our home was filled with so much love and warmth…she completed everything.”

“Don’t tell her that, she’ll never let that one go.”

“I worried more about bringing you home.”

“Really? I thought I was the easy baby.”

“You were, but you were also my son. Because of how I used to be, I was worried about whether or not I’d be able to raise a son right.”

“Well, I don’t want to brag, but…”

“I’m very proud of the man you are, Tommy. I don’t think I say that enough.”

“Dad…”

“I mean it. You’re a good boy. A good man. You’re going to be twenty-one next week, and I can’t tell you what a privilege it has been to spend the last twenty-one years being your father.”

“You didn’t need to worry. You’re a great Dad.”

“It’s not easy to feel that way every day. You’ll learn that some day.”

“Not yet, I hope.”

“No, but one day you will. Now that Ava’s getting married, someone needs to carry on the family name.”

“Ava’s hyphenating, you know.”

“Yeah, but I have to share those grandchildren with John. Yours? They’re all mine.”

“I knew it, you’re just in this for the grandchildren.”

“We’re going to auction you off to your future bride on your birthday. It’s time to start studding you out.”

“I’m taking it back, you’re a crappy Dad.”

“Too late. I’m kidding, you know that, right?”

“Of course I do. Mom would never let me go.”


	82. What Does She Do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: Ava doesn’t know how to be a big sister to a little sister

“So, what does she do?”

“I don’t know, Tommy.”

“But you’re the big sister, you’re supposed to know.”

“Well, you’re the big brother now. What do you know?”

“Nothing.”

“Exactly.”

“We’ve never had a baby girl to play with before.”

“I know.”

“What do we do with her?”

“What do you mean?”

“…What do girls like to play with?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what do you like to play with?”

“I like the games that we play, but I don’t think Rosie’s going to like them.”

“Why not? They’re great games.”

“I don’t think she can climb trees yet.”

“But we’re not supposed to climb the tree, Ava.”

“And that’s why we promised we’re never going to tell Mom that we do it.”

“Dad knows that we do it.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“He told me that he knows everything.”

“Tommy, that’s it!”

“What?”

“Dad knows everything.”

“But you said-”

“Dad’s a big brother.”

“Me too.”

“But he’s got a little sister! Auntie Thea was born after he was. He’ll know what to do with a sister.”

“Okay, so we should go ask Dad?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”


	83. Holiday Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Olicity- baby’s first thanksgiving
> 
> ellodarlin said: Ava and Oliver fic prompt: literally anything based around that adorable picture of Stephen and Mavi, please!

“Huh?”

“What?”

“It’s Thanksgiving.”

“…it can’t be.”

“It is.”

“I thought that was in two days?”

“Well, all the friends and family we so graciously left behind for the holidays are texting me saying _Happy Thanksgiving_ , so we must be losing track of time out here.”

“Felicity, I thought we agreed this was a no-tech vacation.”

“I love that you have so much faith in me that you think I can handle that.”

“You should be out here with us, enjoying the sunshine…”

“It’s not my fault, I wanted to take a picture and it was closest thing to me. It’s really your fault for looking so adorable right now.”

“You know, if you weren’t so engrossed in your text messages, you could be this adorable as well.”

“I doubt it. There’s no way Ava’s moving anytime soon.”

“I think learning to swim tired her out.”

“She was so good at it though. I didn’t expect her to take to the water that quickly.”

“She’s a natural. We may have found her sport.”

“Already? What happened to your dream of a mini football player?”

“Hmm, I guess we’ll have to have another little team player, won’t we?”

“So, is that what it takes to get you into bed these days?”

“Mrs. Queen, what are you suggesting?”

“I am suggesting that our daughter is clearly having a heavy nap, and that we should take advantage of every second of alone time we get on this is vacation.”

“This is why you’re the brains of our marriage.”

“So why don’t you go put her down in her bed, and come meet me back in the pool?”

“Yes, ma’am.”


	84. Go Back To Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Little bit angsty, but I know you like that stuff. Prompt: Felicity is away on a business trip leaving Oliver to look after the kids. Something triggers Oliver to have a panic attack and little Ava calms him down from it like the awesome little kid she is… Please?

“Daddy”

_No. No, sweetheart, go back to bed. Go back to sleep, please._

“Daddy, are you sick?”

_I’m not sick. I’m not safe. Please, go back to bed. Go back to your room and close the door._

“I’ll help, Daddy. I remember, Mommy taught me.”

_No. Don’t come near me. Your mother will never forgive me if I hurt you. I will never forgive myself. You are the most precious, sweet little girl and I cannot risk hurting you._

“Hold my hand, Daddy.”

_I can’t. Ava. No. Don’t touch me. You can’t be here. Go back to bed. Go back to bed._

“Daddy, you have to hold my hand.”

_You’re too small to see this. I don’t want you to see this. You think I’m the greatest person in the world, you can’t see me like this. Go back to bed._

“I always feel better when you hold my hand.”

_Go back to bed. Ava, go back to bed. Please go back to bed._

“Let’s have a cuddle, Daddy.”

_The first time I held you, you were screaming._

_You were seven pounds and two ounces._

_You were wrapped in a blanket that was bigger than you. You held my finger. It made me feel whole._

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star…”

_The first time you smiled at me they said it was gas._

_You were laying on my thighs, looking up at me as I sang this song to you._

_You were supposed to be going to sleep, but I just needed to have two more minutes of you in my arms._

“How I wonder what you are…”

_The first time you laughed, your mother was pulling faces at you._

_I was cooking dinner, and she was dancing around with you, singing with silly voices._

_It made me laugh. It made you laugh. You were so beautiful._

“Up above the world so high…”

_The first time you let go of my hand to run ahead in the park, my heart broke._

_I knew it was just the first time you’d run ahead of me._

_I knew some day I wouldn’t be able to chase after you. One day you’d grow up and leave me behind. My heart broke that day._

“Like a diamond in the sky…”

_That same day, you fell asleep on my shoulder as I carried you home._

_I know you’re not leaving me just yet. For now, you’re all mine._

_My whole heart._

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star…”

_The first time you crawled into our bed on a Sunday morning, I knew my life was perfect._

_You could have got up. You could have put the TV on. You could have played with your toys._

_You wanted to be with us. We wanted to be with you._

“How I wonder what you are…”

_You have saved me every day of your tiny life._

_The first time you saved me, they placed you in my arms at the hospital and said “congratulations, it’s a girl.”_

_Today, you saved me by reminding me where I am._

_I am not on the island._

_I am not just Oliver Queen._

_I am Daddy._

_I am Hon._

_I am a father. I am a husband._

_I am not my nightmares._

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star…how I wonder what you are…”

_I am my love for you._


	85. Out of the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: MORE AVA PLEASE!!! Maybe Ava finding out about Green Arrow??? You’re an awesome writer!
> 
> winstallenski said: Okay, so I was watching an episode of this old show called The Waltons, and in it the mother and two of her children got run off the road. They got lost while they were looking for help, and their family had to go searching for them in the middle of the worst storm they had ever seen. I was wondering if you could write something like that with Felicity, Ava, and Tommy and a very worried Oliver.
> 
> Anonymous said: Ava ending up Oliver’s superhero costume’s jacket some way somehow (back when it had sleeves)
> 
> waiting-for-meaning said: My love for your pics cannot be put properly into words. I’d love to see your take on the moment Tommy and/or Ava discover their dad was once the Arrow.

Ava remembers a lot of things about the night that it happened.

She remembers sitting in the back of the car with her head on the window, watching the raindrops against the glass. She remembers that when they stopped at the traffic lights, the red and green lights made the raindrops turn different colours. She remembers hearing the glass crack when she hit her head on it and everything feeling wobbly like the time she span around in circles for too long and she fell over. She remembers Tommy crying and wailing in the baby seat on the other side of the backseat and she remembers Mommy saying her name a lot.

She remembers that Mommy is at the other door telling her that everything’s going to be okay and not to be scared, lifting baby Tommy out of the car seat when she hears a huge bang, and the car moves away from Mommy and Tommy and she’s still got her safety belt on so she goes with it, and then everything is very quiet and very dark, and she is scared.

She doesn’t remember napping but she thinks she does, because she opens her eyes again and the rain is even harder, it’s dripping on her face where the car is broken. She remembers smelling smoke, and knowing that smoke is bad because it means fire. She’s not allowed to be near things that are burning, like the bonfire they went to in the park last year and she had to either stay holding onto Mommy’s hand tightly or sitting on Daddy’s shoulders so she wouldn’t run off anywhere that she might be hurt. So she remembers that the car is not a safe place for her to be and she needs to get away from it.

The fire on the car is loud and she gets far away from it. She can’t see Mommy or Tommy. She can’t even here Tommy crying which is weird because Tommy cries a lot and he’s really, really loud, especially at night time. She thinks he might be scared of the dark. Ava’s not scared of the dark.

Except all she can see from the fire is the trees around the car, and she doesn’t know where she is. She knew they were driving back to the city from Gramma Moira’s cabin (even though Gramma Moira died a long time before Ava was born so she’s never there) and that there’s a little forest they pass on the way back. Only if the car fell down the hill into the forest then she knows she won’t be able to climb up the hill on her own, and she can’t stay near the car. So she knows she has to go somewhere safe that Daddy can come get her from.

Because Daddy will. Because Daddy promised he would always come and find her.

She tries to remember the things that Mommy and Daddy taught her about staying safe, but it’s hard when her head is hurting her a lot, and it’s really dark, and the rain went through her nice denim jacket so she’s soaking wet and really freezing cold. She wants to be brave, so she tries her hardest not to cry.

She tries to find somewhere safe that can keep her dry, somewhere that Daddy can see her in, but it’s hard because she can’t see very much, and there are lots of noises in the forest. She knows there are animals bigger than she is in the forest and she definitely, definitely doesn’t want to be eaten by a bear because Sara Diggle said she saw a bear once when they were camping in the forest, and even though Mommy said it wasn’t the same forest Ava’s not exactly sure if that’s true.

She cries when the lightning starts. Daddy hates the lightning. When there’s lightning at night, Daddy locks himself in the bathroom because the one in Mommy and Daddy’s room doesn’t have a window in it, and Mommy is the one that comes to see her when she’s scared.

What if Daddy’s too scared of the lightning to come get her and Mommy can’t come get her because she can’t bring Tommy into the forest? And she’s really scared then because she really liked The Jungle Book but she doesn’t want to be Mowgli because Mowgli was friends with a bear and Ava really, really doesn’t want to be bears in this forest.

“Ava!”

She hears her name from far away. It’s really far away like a whisper, but she can see some light too. It’s a flashlight. It sounds like Daddy, but she can’t be sure so she waits, because there’s a gap in the tree that she’s sitting by that stops the rain hitting her and even though there are bugs it’s not so bad to be a bit warmer.

“Ava?!”

No, that has to be Daddy. It has to be Daddy because he promised and he’s here and he’s looking for her like he promised he always would.

So she gets up and she runs towards the voice. She slips a few times because she’s wearing the old sneakers that Mommy says need to be replaced, but she wants to keep them because they’re purple and the bottoms light up when she runs. She gets muddy whenever she falls, and she thinks that she cuts her hand or that her head is bleeding a lot because when the lightning flashes she can see red on her hands.

“Daddy!”

“Ava? Ava!”

She runs and she runs and Daddy keeps calling, and then she finds a clearing close to where the car was and he’s there and…

…and it’s not Daddy.

The man looking at her has a flashlight in one hand and a bow in his other. He has a hood up which is clever in the rain but he’s wearing lots of green. He looks like the forest. Like Robin Hood. She stops because she knows this is the Green Arrow man that she sees on the news sometimes. The one who shoots people when they’re bad and puts the bad men in jail and helps the police when they can’t do it on their own. The Green Arrow is friends with the Flash, and she thinks he must be good because sometimes the news says he’s bad, but Mommy says he’s a good man who helps people and would always keep them safe.

But why is he looking for her and not Daddy?

“Ava,” he says, and his voice isn’t all growly like it was in the news videos and it sounds like someone else’s voice.

She starts to get scared again but then there’s lightning, and the Green Arrow jumps a little like he’s scared. And then she remembers.

She remembers that sometimes Daddy isn’t there when she wakes up in the night and Mommy tells her that he had to go out to work. She remembers that Daddy has lots of scars on him that he got from people hurting him. She remembers that Daddy wants to make the city a nice place for her to live in and he gets angry when people are on the news for making it a horrible place. She remembers that the Green Arrow has friends called the Black Canary, and Spartan, and Speedy, and Overwatch that sound a lot like Laurel Lance, and Uncle Digg, and Auntie Thea and Mommy.

She remembers that Daddy is scared of the lightning, and so is the Green Arrow.

And suddenly, she knows she’s the safest little girl in the entire world.

“Daddy!” she cries again when he lifts her up, and he holds her against him like he’s scared to let her go, which is okay because she doesn’t want him to let her go ever. He talks to her in his Daddy voice, not his Green Arrow voice, telling her that she’s okay, that he’s taking her home and that she’s going to be okay because he’s got her now and that means everything’s okay.

She doesn’t have to climb back up the hill because Daddy carries her. She gets to wear his Green Arrow coat which is very heavy, but very warm and smells a lot like Daddy’s brown leather coat that Mommy got him for his birthday and he wears all the time, so she likes it. She hides her face in it and closes her eyes as Daddy climbs them back up the hill and she stays inside the warm cocoon it makes for her and she pretends for a minute that she can hide here forever and when she comes back out she’ll be a beautiful butterfly Ava who isn’t scared of the dark or the cold.

She thinks she might nap again because she doesn’t remember coming home until she feels Mommy kissing her all over her face and crying as she hugs them both tighter than ever. She can’t hear Tommy crying any more which is nice because her head hurts and Tommy makes her head hurt anyway. But her house is warm like it always is and everyone is here waiting for her and telling her what a good and brave girl she is and that everything’s going to be okay now.

She likes that everyone came to wait for her, and that they were all out looking for her, and she thinks all of the policemen were too because Gramma has brought Mr Quentin and he’s wearing the special policeman hat he only wears for the special police jobs now. She likes that they all came here, but her head is hurting a lot and she just wants her Mommy and Daddy really more than anyone. So she puts her head back on Daddy’s shoulder which hides her underneath his special coat but she holds on tight to Mommy’s sweater too so they both stay there.

She naps again for a while because she wakes up when Mommy’s putting her pyjamas on for her, and she’s clean again now and her hair is wet. Maybe she slept through bathtime. Daddy’s sitting next to her on the bed, letting her lean against him while Mommy braids her hair for her. They’re both whispering and asking her if her head hurts, and it does a bit but not very much now. She doesn’t want to go to the doctor but they said they will try to wake her up a few times during the night to make sure she’s okay and if she wakes up like a good girl every time then she won’t have to go.

She keeps yawning, and she wants Mommy to stay with her in her bed tonight and Daddy too, but they won’t fit, so they break the special rule that she has to sleep in her own bed since they brought her the princess one she asked for, and they let her sleep in their bed. She gets to take her pillow and her stuffed animals and put them in the middle of Mommy and Daddy’s pillows.

“I want Daddy’s coat. The green one,” she decides, reaching out an arm as Mommy lays down behind her and cuddles her like a little spoon. They like cuddling like big spoons and little spoons, and sometimes Mommy blows raspberries on her neck and makes her giggle. She’s too tired for giggling tonight though.

Daddy doesn’t look too happy about it, but Mommy says “Oliver…” in that very quiet way that makes Daddy to anything she wants, and Daddy brings it back and lays it over her like an extra blanket. He lays down with them both where she can look at him, but she doesn’t think he’s going to go to sleep yet because he’s not wearing his pyjamas.

He kisses her forehead and strokes her cheek. She likes it when he does that, because he said it’s a special thing he does for his girls. He does it for Mommy and she smiles like everything is okay. “Go to sleep, sweetheart,” he tells her. “You’re okay now.”

“You’ll keep me safe?” she asks him in a whisper.

“Because I’m the Green Arrow?” he asks her.

She pulls him a little closer by the t-shirt, so that he’s just as close to her as Mommy is, and now she’s right exactly where she wants to be. “Because you’re my Daddy and you promised.”

Daddy kisses her forehead again at the same time that Mommy kisses the back of her head. And then, she naps again.


	86. Beach Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: can you write an Ava/Tommy/Rose (any one of them) fic based on those pics of Stephen with his daughter on the beach?

“She’s not ready.”

“Felicity, she’s ready.”

“She’s too small.”

“She’s swimming great in the pool at home.”

“But this is the ocean. Oceans fight back.”

“I’m going to be holding her hand the entire time.”

“I don’t care. She’s too small.”

“Felicity, Rosie is two years old, she can paddle in the ocean.”

“But what if-”

“ _What if_  nothing. I won’t let go of her, not even for a second.”

“You also got bitten by a shark once.”

“I am not going to let our daughter get eaten by a shark. She’s paddling her feet. Now, get the camera. She’s going to love it.”

“Oliver…”

“Felicity, trust me. We’re just going to go in up to her knees.”

“What? No! You said paddling! Paddling, Oliver. _Oliver_!”


	87. Sleepovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: How about a fic where olicity are at the hospital overnight as one of the children are hurt

Felicity jerked back into life with a quick inhale when she felt the press of cardboard against her palm. Flicking her attention around her, she sank into the familiarity of her husband’s arm creeping around her shoulders as he settled into the minuscule space at her side, passing a coffee into her exhausted hand. One of his legs hung off the side of the bed as she leaned back against him, careful not to disturb the curled up lump resting over her stomach.

“You missed the doctor coming back,” she whispered, turning her head to catch his eye. She saw the guilt wash through him but she shook her head. “They were an hour early, don’t worry.”

“What did they say?” he asked, reaching over her hip in the gap created when she raised the coffee cup to her lips.

“Peanut allergy,” she said unsurprisingly, as his hand settled on the mass of dark blonde hair in her lap.

“I think that much was obvious,” Oliver sighed, sweeping his sleeping daughter’s hair back behind her ear so he could see the peaceful expression on her face. “Her color’s coming back,” he noted.

“Yeah, she woke up for a while,” she explained. “She was a bit…well, druggy… but she was feeling much better.”

“Good,” he said, with a long breath of relief. In the peace of the moment, his lips fell against her temple, and she handed the coffee cup back to him. He put it aside before his free hand looped around her fingers. “Your mom’s at the house taking care of everything. She’s going to stay with Tommy as long as we need to be here,” he told her.

“Thank God, I didn’t want to keep him here all night,” she mumbled. “They’re going to let Ava sleep and then if everything’s okay in the morning we can take her home.”

He nodded, leaning down to place a kiss on his daughter’s head. She could sense it in the tension of his fingers, that he hadn’t been there when she was awake, but at least both their children were now sleeping soundly. “At least we’re fully prepared for life with a peanut allergy,” he mused quietly.

“Very unprepared for a child that can’t breathe though,” she mumbled, closing her eyes now that she had the resting place of his shoulder.

His lips found her head next, and they settled with an equal hold on both one another and their daughter. “That was a whole new level of fear,” he whispered.

“She’s going to be upset when she realizes she missed half of her birthday party,” she knew, curling one lock of hair around her finger.

“We’ll make it up to her,” he whispered instantly. No questions asked. Whatever his baby girl wanted.

Felicity stretched her leg slightly, easing the cramp that was threatening to shift into place for the third time since they’d arrived in the hospital that afternoon. While it was a terrifying rush to the emergency room, she was grateful for the quiet reprieve this evening had given them. She knew far too well what Ava had gone through today, and in her recently bout of ‘I’m five now I’m not a baby anymore’, Felicity had to admit that she was enjoying the way her daughter was now cuddling into her stomach the way she had as a toddler.

She felt a huff of gentle laughter against her shoulder, and looked up to Oliver. “What?”

“Just counting the amount of times we’ve been in the emergency room with Ava,” he recalled. “I make it seven.”

“Eight,” she nodded, catching his raised eyebrow. “I could the time she wandered off when Tommy was born.”

His face washed over with the memory. “Oh god, I blanked that out of my memory.”

“She was a real hit in the geriatric ward,” she recalled.

“Except for that woman who thought she had an unhealthy curiosity,” he pointed out.

“Well, she’s never been exposed to a bag of urine before, how was she supposed to know what it was?”


	88. On Call Nurse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:
> 
> could you do a short fic where felicity is hurt or something and the kids want to help oliver take care of mom…

“Okay, got it? Careful…”

“Daddy, I’ve got it!”

“Ava, hold it steady or it’s going to spill.”

“I wanna hold it!”

Felicity could hear the haze of her daughter’s determination through her half-woken state, and despite her sheer exhaustion she felt her curiosity peak. Despite Ava’s insistence - which often ended in spillages, breakages and that ever frightening “uh oh” -  she could hear Oliver’s far more assuring tone alongside it, and she rolled her head against the pillow to glance over her shoulder at the open bedroom door.

“Careful, careful…”

“I am careful.”

“Look where you’re going-”

“Daddy, let me do it! I can do it!”

She had to smile, albeit weakly, at her daughter’s voice. At the age of four - “four and eight months _actually_ ” she’d be quick to correct - she was coming into her independence with a ferocity that neither of her parents could keep up with. It had started with a gentle reminder that yes, she did need to hold their hand when they were out in a crowd and was quickly become a no, you absolutely are not old enough to stand at the stove.

The sound of quietly scuffed footsteps finally gave their entrance away, and she was met with the sight of her daughter carefully carrying a cup of coffee which Oliver’s hands were almost cradled around as he bent over walking beside her, clearly ready to steady it the moment her imbalance threatened to spill the hot liquid over her hands.

And God, she smiled.

“Mommy, you’re awake!”

“Ava, careful!” Oliver insisted with a small hiss once more as Ava’s pace increased to scamper to the bedside. How she didn’t spill a drop of the coffee was a miracle, but she sloppily put it on the bedside table as she clambered into Felicity’s lap just as she was lazily sitting up against the mass of pillows around her.

“Hi Mommy,” she chirped as she got comfortable.

“Morning, sweetheart,” Felicity murmured, drawing her into her arms. After three nights in the hospital, she’d missed waking up to her daughter climbing into her bed, and they’d decided it wouldn’t be good for her to keep visiting her in the hospital. As a result, Ava had spent a lot of time with Thea while her and Oliver were in the hospital.

“Are you all better now?” she asked.

“Getting there,” she assured her, smoothing back her uncombed hair and accepting each of the pecked kisses that her daughter blessed her with.

And she was. Being at home instantly helped, but they’d had enough pregnancy scares through Ava to warrant taking precautions the second time around. At the hint of an unfamiliar and alarming discomfort they’d gone straight to the hospital and she’d been kept under a strict observation for days before they’d assured her that the baby was fine and told her she could go home. But she hadn’t slept as much as she should have in the hospital, and she still wasn’t feeling one-hundred-percent with all her concerns.

But this? Her daughter sat in her lap and telling her barely curved stomach that it had to be nice to Mommy because she’s a good mommy and not to make her sick? Her husband getting back into the other side of the bed and leaning over them both to properly hand her the one coveted cup of coffee she allowed herself a day?

This was much better.

“Hey,” Oliver murmured, drawing her attention up from watching Ava. His fingertips brushed over her jaw and she smiled, leaning into his hand. “Are you okay?” he checked, his eyes searching for any sign that she was just humouring their daughter.

She nodded, turning to touch her lips to his palm. “Yeah, I’m just tired,” she assured him.

“Good,” he said, with a barely-there sigh of relief.

And it was good, she knew, as her daughter curled around her in the perfect way that their bodies moulded together, and her husband tangled his feet with hers and let her rest her head on his shoulder, and her unborn child continued to grow within her.

It was very good.


	89. First Day Jitters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anhourbeforemidnight said: First day of school for any of the kids, and maybe them not wanting to go but than the other one convinces them

“Daddy, do I have to go to school?”

_No. No, you don’t have to go. You can stay here with me forever, and we’ll learn from the education channel and the counting games and we’ll always have lunch as a picnic at the coffee table and it’ll be just the two of us forever._

“Yes, Ava,” he tells her instead, tying off the pigtail that had come loose over her right shoulder. Though Felicity had done them to perfection that morning, Ava had been playing with it nervously at the car and it had come unravelled easily beneath her fingertips.

“But why?” she whined quietly.

“Because you want to be smart like Mommy, don’t you?” he hinted, giving her a meaningful look as she looked at him sadly, a wash of hesitance of her tiny features.

And she did. She wanted to be just like her mother, as she insistently paraded around Queen Incorporated on days they were visiting Mommy at work with a fierce determination. But she didn’t want to go to school.

“But you won’t be there,” she said softly.

That was what killed him too. Oliver had been far too in love with the stay-at-home-dad role, and today, Ava’s first day of kindergarten, brought that to a close. This was his little girl all growing up, her first step towards the day she would ultimately leave him. He didn’t want her to start school, had even made a strong case for home tutoring, but Felicity had reminded him that he didn’t have the qualifications for that, and so, a school had been chosen.

“Sweetheart, you don’t need me there,” he assured her, trying to convince both her and himself.

“But I like being with you,” she said.

Oh god, there were tears in her eyes. His strongest weakness, one which he’d never be immune to. He busied himself with checking her school bag one more time before he placed his hands on her shoulders. “I like being with you too, baby girl, but this is going to be so much more fun than being at home with me,” he told her. Maybe it was a lie. Maybe not. “You’re going to make so many more new friends, and you’ll get to learn a million new things, and you have to remember every single detail, because when you come home tonight, Mommy and Daddy want to hear all about it, okay?”

“‘kay,” she muttered quietly, looking down at the ground.

“Hey” he whispered, nudging her chin up with his finger. “Have fun, okay? Go show everyone how amazing you are.”

Felicity returned from signing the paperwork at the front desk, and after a small goodbye, they were leaving their daughter in her new classroom with her new teacher.

And Oliver was trying not to cry in the front seat of his car.

“Hon.”

“I’m not crying,” he insisted quickly, his eyes firmly on the road ahead even though the car was still parked.

“Well, I’m going to if we stay here,” Felicity warned, her voice tight. “So can we please leave this parking lot before I march back in there and bring her home?”


	90. A Single Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Hi! So I wasn’t really sure whether the prompts were closed or not (I can’t see it on my phone) but I’m taking this shot. can you write an Olicity recreation of the scene in Amazing Spiderman. Gwen’s death? Can we see some version of that with Olicity. Oliver going like “Stay with me”

She’s gone by the time he reaches her, he knows that.

There’s no life in her eyes, no glimmer of her essence staring back at him when he gathers her limp body into her arms. He’s done this before, held her broken form in his arms while he waits for the ambulance to reach them. He’s held her in his arms, whispered assurances to an unconscious body, but he knows this will be futile before he even gets to her side.

It doesn’t stop him smoothing back her hair, wiping the grime from her face where she fell. He tried. He knows he tried, just as much he knows he should have tried harder - in the back of his mind, he knows that she’d have told him that he did everything he could and there was nothing more he could have done, and he knows he’d go to his grave arguing that point.

Instead, he holds her as she goes to her own.

“Felicity?” he questions, her name stuttering on his lips as he rests her head in the crook of his elbow. There’s no blood, no visible wounds that tell him he’s out of time, but he knows she’d never have survived that fall. Her body would be devastated beneath her skin; bones shattered, muscles bruised, organs pierced.

She doesn’t even flicker. She’s gone. He hopes, at least, she was gone on impact. The way her skull folds beneath his fingertips on the back of his neck, he’s certain she didn’t even feel herself hit the ground. It makes his breath catch in his throat, fighting down the bile that creeps up to meet the wretched realisation that the woman in his arms, the woman he loves - has loved, will always love - is dead.

“Felicity, please…” he whispers, though she was too far from him now to ever hear his pleas again.

She told him once that he whispers in his sleep. He knows he cries out when the nightmares are vivid enough to draw him away from the sanity she’s grounded him with, but he’s never imagined himself a whisperer. Tonight will not be a night of whispers, because there will never again be a soft hand in the space between his chest and his stomach, or that settles in the groove between his shoulders. Tonight he knows what he will see, what will plague him for the rest of his life.

And it’s this.

It’s the way her expression is slackened, her cheeks still warm because her light faded only moments ago. He can count the seconds since he last heard her voice, and will never forget the way the fear curled around his name as she screamed for him to help her, to save her, to catch her. And he hadn’t. So this is what he will remember. He will remember that actions have consequences, that love is fleeting yet overwhelming, and that there is no permanence to the good things in his life.

“Please, don’t leave me…” he tries. Once more. He will always have one more try for her. Later, he will bargain for her existence with supernatural means. He will call in favours owed to him across the globe for one more chance to see her smile, to hear her voice, to feel her in his arms. But now he will plead for her. He will allow tears to pool in her neck as he sobs for her. He will place his hand over her chest and try to find the heartbeat he once focused on when he was lost between his past and his reality.

But this is his reality now. She is no longer a part of it.

“Stay…” he chokes.

_Stay with me. Come home. Wake up. Open your eyes. Don’t go. Don’t leave me. Don’t make me call your mother. Don’t make me bury you. Don’t make me let you go. I can’t let you go. I will never be able to let you go._

She can’t stay. She’s already gone, he knows that. He knows that her leg is at an unnatural angle, that her body is too limp, that she is lost to him through brutality and a sudden stop. The brightest light to ever shine on his shadows has been extinguished by a simplicity as little as his glove slipping from his hand as she gripped onto it. The warmth he has been privileged to call his love, his wife, his best friend, his home, has been dampened with a severity that he knows a life in the cold is all that awaits him.

He wonders how long it will be before he can sleep without her lying beside him. He wonders how long it will be before he can face a meal. He wonders if he will ever have the strength to say her name again. He doesn’t know whether he’ll have the strength to speak at her funeral. He doesn’t know where the courage to call her mother will come from. He doesn’t know whether he can sleep in their bed, live in their home, cook the meals she loves. He doesn’t know whether he can survive the moment her rings are given back to him.

But he knows one thing. One sure, unfaltering thing that will remain with him until the end of his days.

He doesn’t regret a single moment.


	91. You Tell Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tallandfeisty asked: if the inspiration ever strikes please write more teenage Ava and Andy. I really want to see more of their backstory in fic form and maybe even from their POV. ;)

“You tell him.”

“No way, you tell him.”

“I can’t tell him!”

“He’s your dad!”

“He can ground me.”

“He can kill me.”

“Andy, he’s not going to kill you.”

“Yes, he is.”

“Why don’t we just….not tell him?”

“And hide from him the entire night?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Sure it is, there’s gonna be a lot of people there.”

“Because it’s your family’s Christmas gala. People are going to want to see you.”

“I don’t care. I want to be with you.”

“In a room of 200 people. Ava, if you don’t tell your Dad-”

“He loves dancing with me at the gala, though. It’s important to him.”

“Then we’ll dance after.”

“Andy…”

“You do the first dance of the night with your father, and then we’ll dance when he’s dancing with your mom.”

“Good plan.”

“Maybe he’ll be less likely to kill me then.”


	92. He Sees You When You're Sleeping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nerdgirljen said: I have a prompt - if you want it, and haven’t already done anything like it before. Ava goes to her mother and tells her she knows who Daddy really is, and Felicity starts to freak out wondering how she knows Oliver is the Arrow. She keeps talking about how “the city is dangerous,” how “someone needed to step up to be a hero,” etc., and all Ava does is look at her weird and asks what she’s talking about because Daddy is clearly Santa Clause. (Complete with a classic Smoak eye roll!)
> 
> waiting-for-meaning said: I loved the pic where Ava discovers her dad is the Green Arrow. What about a drabble where Olicity talks to her about it to see how she feels about that/stress the importance of keeping the secret/etc)? Or what about when Tommy and/or Rosie learn the truth?

“Ava, do you understand what I’m saying?”

Her little eyebrows are scrunched together in thought, and she’s not quite meeting his gaze even though she’s looking between both Oliver and Felicity. It’s a rare expression on his daughter’s face. She usually meets the world with such enthusiasm, with such an eager need to learn, and for her to be stumbled back to a confused silence is a little disheartening.

“Ava?”

“You’re the Green Arrow?” she asks him, looking down at where her feet swing off the edge of her chair.

“Yes,” Oliver tells her. “I know it’s a big secret that we’ve been keeping from you, but we want you to know that it was only to keep you safe.”

But there is no way that his silence can keep her safe anymore. Not when she suspects. He overheard her at school the other day, when he was picking her up on the last day before the holiday break, and he overheard her talking to her friends about the secret job that her Daddy had at night, and after a long conversation between him and Felicity that same night, they knew it was time to tell Ava the truth.

But despite what she’d been saying to her school friends, her eyes are somewhat saddened now. She looks up at Felicity first, as if gaining confirmation that he was telling the truth and then she looked at Oliver. “But…does that mean you’re not Santa?”

Her question actually makes him jerk back. He tries to find a response, but there are no words that come to him, and it’s Felicity that takes over, placing her hands over Ava’s knees. “Honey, why do you think Daddy is Santa?” she asks.

“Because he goes out at night for a special secret,” she tells Felicity uncertainly, her voice fill with a growing devastation. “Like Santa does…”

“Sweetie,” she coos, biting her lip as she smooths back Ava’s hair before cupping her cheeks. “Daddy isn’t Santa.”

“But…” Ava’s lip quivers. Oliver’s heart breaks. “But I told all my friends…”

The hitch in her voice has Oliver lurching forwards, wrapping his arms around his five-year-old before she can start to cry, because if she cries because of him he won’t be able to live with himself. “Hon, it’s okay. It doesn’t matter what you told your friends.”

“But they’ll think I’m lying,” she says tightly, as if on the verge of tears. “I don’t want to be a liar. You said lying is bad.”

“Sweetheart, you won’t get in trouble for lying,” Felicity assures her when the tiny hands curl around Oliver’s torso and bury into him. She continues a rhythmic stroking of her daughter’s hair as she makes a telltale whine that they know from experience is a warning sign for a crying fit.

“But I want Daddy to be Santa,” she wailed quietly before the tears broke through at long last.

Oliver shared a glance with his wife as Ava cried out her disappointment. A few years from now, when she discovers the truth about Santa, they’ll think back on the innocence of this moment where she actually wants her father to be the secret behind Santa Claus, but right now, it’s relatively heartbreaking if not a little sweet.

If nothing else, it’s just an assurance that she’s not growing up as quickly as they fear she is.


	93. Respect Your Elders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Prompt!: teenager-Ava tells her parents that she has a boyfriend… Andy Diggle. Love your Ava stories! xo
> 
> promiseyoullbepatientwithme said: prompt : Ava talking back to Felicity or Oliver

“Ava, don’t fight with me.”

“You’re being unreasonable!”

“My decision is final.”

“Well, you decision sucks.”

“Ava! Do not talk to me like that.”

“This isn’t fair, Dad! I’m going to be the only one not at that party.”

“Then you shouldn’t have snuck out of the house last week. Maybe if we could have trusted you then, we could have trusted you to go to this party tonight. This is your own fault.”

“No, it’s not! You’re just being overprotective!”

“Ava, I am your father, you do not talk back to me like that.”

“I just want to see my friends!”

“You’re grounded, Ava. When you have respect for the rules that your mother and I put in place for your safety, then we will have respect for your social circle.”

“It isn’t fair!”

“No, what isn’t fair is me checking my sixteen year old daughter’s bed in the middle of the night and finding it empty.”

“Dad-”

“Do you understand what went through my mind, Ava? Did you think about your mother and I?”

“Dad, I’m-”

“Ava, what if something terrible had happened to you and I hadn’t known where you were?”

“Nothing happened, Dad!”

“It doesn’t matter. You broke the rules, you have to face the consequences.”

“Dad, please-”

“No, Ava.”

“Dad, this is _important_ to me.”

“You respecting your mother and I is important to me.”

“But it’s _important_!”

“Why, Ava? Why is this party _so_ important to you?”

“Because it’s a date!”

“…Well, now you’re definitely not going.”

“Dad, don’t-”

“You are far too young to be dating.”

“Dad, it’s a date with Andy. Our fourth date.”

“Andy _Diggle_?”

“Yes.”

“You’re…dating _Andy_?”

“Yes.”

“Does your mother know about this?”

“Yes.”

“And she didn’t tell me?”

“Apparently not.”

“ _Felicity_!”


	94. Time Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Hi! Don’t really know if prompts are open for you at the moment but no worries, I won’t mind if you don’t have time for this one! Okay so, remember the face Felicity makes when she goes to sit on her chair when everyone is leaving and it’s just her and Oliver in the lair in 4x09?(right after the team convinced him to host the holiday party). Well, imagine Oliver is supposedly “scolding” their kid but he’s so bad at it that Felicity makes that face and he’s like “what’s so funny?” Thank you btw❤

She tries not to laugh, she really does, but it’s hard.

It’s hard, because Ava’s trying her best not to smile, and Oliver’s really trying his best to discipline her. But it’s mostly hard because what happened was really, genuinely hilarious.

But that’s not the point. It doesn’t matter that everyone laughed at first. It doesn’t matter that Felicity was even a little jealous that it hadn’t been her to think about it. What matters is that ultimately, it’s wrong, and Ava needs to be told that.

So Oliver sits her down in Mommy’s chair, and starts explaining to her that she’s not going to get television privileges for a week.

“But… it’s football day on Sunday,” she points out, looking up at him from beneath her bangs with what is perhaps the most innocent - and therefore faked - expression she’s ever mastered.

“That has nothing to do with this,” Oliver tells her sternly.

“But I want to watch the football with you,” Ava tells him.

“No television,” he repeats. “You need to learn the consequences of your actions.”

“But if I spend all of Sunday with you then you can’t watch football either,” she tells him.

Oliver, for all his determination to be the stern parent, has to blink his surprise.

Ava gives a small shrug before continuing with her explanation. “‘Cause if I sit with you then we can’t watch it because I’m not allowed to watch it, so you can’t watch football.”

“Ava-”

“And you can’t go watch it at Uncle Digg’s ‘cause Sunday is family day,” she reminds him.

Felicity can’t help it. A small laugh escapes, and Oliver turns to glare at her as she covers it with a series of coughs.

“Ava,” he turns back to her. “This is not up for discussion. No television for a week, and I want you to think about your action today.”

“I don’t need to,” she chirps. “I know what I did.”

“And was what you did acceptable behaviour in our family?” he tests her.

She scowls at him this time. “That’s not fair.”

“You lied to me, Ava,” he tells her. “You weren’t in the place you were supposed to be.”

“But you tell that lie to Mommy all the time!” she argues.

Felicity snorts again, and Oliver looks around. She gives a small shrug in response, because Ava does have a point, and unfortunately now that she’s aware that her father is the Green Arrow, she’s very aware of the conversations occurring around her.

And then Ava does the best possible thing she can do in this situation.

She takes a deep breath, pushes her tiny glasses up her nose, and tosses her ponytail over her shoulder. “ _Oliver, you’re supposed to be careful, you have a family to come home to and you’re not getting any younger_ ,” she recites to her father in an almost perfect imitation of Felicity’s voice.

She can’t help it then. Felicity howls with laughter to the point that she has to leave the room. She’s not sure how he has the strength to finish scolding her before she’s sent to the time-out corner, and Oliver stalks past her with a look of disgruntlement in his eyes.

“You gave birth to a monster,” he complains as he makes his way to the training area.

“She gets that attitude from you,” Felicity calls after him.


	95. Little Blossoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> waiting-for-meaning said: Looking for drabble prompts? Now that we’ve seen her party planning skills in action, how about a fic with Donna planning Olicity’s baby shower? Or Ava’s Bat Mitzvah/Tommy’s Bar Mitzvah? (I love you and your pic, btw!!!)

“This is ridiculous, right?”

“It’s not so bad…”

She turns to fix her husband with a stare. She can see him wincing as he looks around what can only be called an explosion of pink. There’s streamers, balloons, and little packages that Donna won’t allow them to touch which she’s fairly certain are glitter bombs of some kind. And naturally, they’ll be pink.

“Okay, so it’s really bad,” Oliver agrees this time, his hand firm on the base of her spine as if it grounds them both the moment.

As if the room wasn’t doing a good enough job of that already.

Donna had insisted, really. They hadn’t been able to persuade her otherwise. As soon as they came back from the hospital and announced that they were expecting a little girl, her eyes had practically glowed pink as she started listing out the baby shower plans for her granddaughter-to-be.

And they’d humoured her, because so far the pregnancy had been hard and troublesome, and to get this far with some good news at last was something to celebrate. Though apparently, they were only allowed celebrate this wonderful news with the presence of everything pink available for purchase within the ten mile radius.

“How many people did she invite?” Oliver asks her, as his mother-in-law darts around the far side of the living room and sets out more pink plastic cutlery.

“I have no idea,” she sighs, her hand curling around the bottom of her now very-there bump. Yes, their daughter is making her presence known at last after months of hiding beneath subtle weight gain, and now there’s a very noticeable bump no matter what she wears. Oliver loves it, she knows, and she supposes that she does as well.

She especially loves it in moments like this when the whole pregnancy thing is more than a little overwhelming, and her daughter - her very on time daughter, much to her delight that she’s not taking after Daddy in that respect - delivers a gentle kick against her palm and reminds her that the best part is yet to come.

“This party’s going to ruin the color pink for us,” she grumbles.

“It’s okay, it’s not too late to buy purple rompers,” Oliver assures her, turning to kiss the side of her head. “Ready?”

“Couldn’t be less ready,” she sighs, straightening with her hands framing her bump. “Let’s get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit,” he laughed.


	96. Entry Requirements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> orangeisorange said: Prompt: School picnic for Ava’s class where all the families are. Other mom’s take notice of how hot/adorable/amazing Oliver is and ask Felicity inappropriate questions. Basically just Olicty fam being more adorable than everybody else.
> 
> melsanfo said: Ava prompt. During an intellect assessment for an elitist school they have her write down a series of difficult words. Ava writes them upside down. When the snotty instructor asks her why she did it Ava says it was to make sure he/she could read it.

The sun beat down on the school grounds in a way that was rare even for a Star City summer. Felicity couldn’t help but take advantage with a sundress shorter that her knee-line which she hadn’t worn since Ava was born. She always worried that the shorter dresses didn’t suit her as well after her baby had left her thighs a little thicker than she’d have liked, but the reaction she’d seen from Oliver as they were getting ready to leave that morning assured her otherwise.

She hadn’t seen her husband for the last hour, separated at either side of the grounds with an unorganized rubble of children playing between the two naturally split group. She hadn’t imagined that getting their daughter into one of Star City’s most prestigious schools would take so much work, especially with her status and Oliver’s family association with the school that both he and Thea had attended, but apparently they were made to jump through the same fundraiser hoops as the rest of the prospective families.

Today, that rested in a picnic fundraiser on the school grounds. Later in the day, the children would compete in sporting challenges that everyone insisted weren’t any impact on their admission into the school, but Felicity had spotted changes of sneakers in most of the other parent’s bags and she was now eyeing up Ava’s ballet pumps up a little nervously.

Spotting Oliver making his way over to the heavily stocked buffet table, she snuck out of her current conversation with one of the mothers, and slipped away to her husband’s side. On her way, she made sure to locate Ava in the crowd of children. She snuck up to Oliver’s side, knocking her arm against his.

“Having fun?” He asked her with a minor tease to his tone.

“No, it’s excruciating,” she said, checking that they were out of earshot first.

“Tell me about it,” he agreed with a grumble. “I feel like we’re on trial.”

“Well, we can’t have Queen babies going to a public school,” she declared airily.

Oliver shot her a grin, raising his eyebrow slightly. “Remember you’re the one that said that, not me.”

She took a plate for herself, loading it with a sample of coleslaw that didn’t look entirely hideous. “I hate sucking up like this,” she complained.

A filthier smile spread across his face. “ _Well_ , you like-”

“And if you want to keep enjoying that, you’ll never mention it within earshot of gossiping mom’s again,” she warned him quickly.

Oliver bit his lip, but didn’t continue the point further. She couldn’t avoid the playful look in his eyes though, and figured the sundress probably attributed to that look. A look like that in his eyes made her want to call Thea and ask her to take Ava for the night.

“Are they that bad?” Oliver asked her, glancing over her shoulder towards the women mostly stood around in dresses of shorter length than Felicity’s.

Honestly, it was, she realized as she looked back at them. There was Molly’s mom who hadn’t stopped talking about her daughter’s swimming achievements, and Melissa’s mother who was making Felicity feel terrible for not enrolling Ava in a proper dance school, and Felicity weakly joining in with her daughter’s computer skills which were apparently not on par with Simon’s mom’s stories about his inherited football tendencies.

“I’m trying to weed through and find a good one so I can pick Ava’s friends for her,” she decided with a bitter undertone that had Oliver laughing.

“Felicity, that’s not really how it works.”

She raised her eyebrow at him, while dumping a spoonful of coleslaw onto his plate as well. “Any kid that Ava starts socializing with guarantees us a set of parents that we have to interact with, potentially for the next ten years.”

His eyes flickered over to the row of men he’d been talking to and widened in fear momentarily. “Good point. I trust your judgement,” he decided.

“How is it with the Dads?” Felicity asked, following his gaze to them.

“Fathers of boys are currently bragging about sports records. We should really get one of those,” he mused casually.

“A sports record?” she asked.

“A boy. I’m the only Dad here without one,” he said, as simply as if he were talking about a car.

She gave him a scandalized expression. “Oliver Queen not having the latest gadget, who’d have thought?”

“I know, it’s terrible. I might have to have a tantrum later,” he teased her.

“Do you really want to end up on the naughty step?” She asked, raising a challenging eyebrow at him that just had him grinning. “Just behave, and see what Santa brings you.”

He tugged his lower lip between his teeth and yeah, she was definitely calling in the services of a babysitter tonight. “Well, if I’m going to be good I expect the full Daddy’s Little Boy package,” he told her. “Lots of sports, Little League, playing in the mud, heir to the throne, etc, etc.”

Her response was a simple curve of her lips. “If you want that, you have to be the one to tell Ava she’s not your heir to the throne anymore,” she told him.

Oliver’s eyes widened as he glanced over to where his daughter was quite proudly displaying her ‘Queen’ status and currently looked like she was employing no less than three boys her age to participate in sports events for her. “No deal.”

Felicity laughed as she leaned against his arm a little more. “I hope she’s behaving herself with the other kids. It’s unnerving not to be able to hear her,” she asked, a little surprised they’d managed to bring her to a place that actually had louder children than their own.

“She’s never had to make a good impression before…” Oliver agreed.

“We’re raising her good, she’ll be okay,” Felicity decided with a deep breath. “It’s the mothers we have to worry about.”

“They can’t be _that_ bad,” Oliver laughed.

“Oh, they _love_ you,” she pointed out.

He blinked as a confused frown settled on his forehead. “I haven’t spoken to any of them.”

“They’re not paying attention to your voice,” she pointed out, dragging her eyes very deliberately over his body.

“Oh,” he nodded in realization.

“Yeah. Apparently you’re a ‘ _specimen_ ’ and I’m the luckiest woman in the city,” she bragged.

The smile returned to his lips as he slid one arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him regardless of the fact they were surrounded by so many people. “Hmm, I could have told you that.”

She matched his possessive smile, planting her free hand against his chest. “I’m not sure I like them staring at my property though.”

He gaped at her playfully. “Mrs. Queen, you do not own me.”

“Lies,” she smirked, tiptoeing to press a quick kiss to his lip. “You know who you belong to.”

She was about to step back when his arm tightened around her, his other setting both their plates down so he could embrace her fully. “Remind me again…”


	97. Turning out the Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> orangeisorange said: Prompt: Baby Rosie gets to spend the night in bed with her parents, which prompts Ava and Tommy to jump in as well. Olicity family fluff.

The sound of screaming quietened to a small sniffle through the baby monitor, easily guided by the gentle hushes that Felicity heard her husband administering to their daughter. At eight months old, it was rare that Rosie woke them in the night now, something she’d grown out of early at only seven weeks old. It was easy for them to brag that on their third child they’d learned some tricks about a good bedtime, but really they’d gotten lucky with their newest daughter and she loved to sleep. **  
**

Which made tonight out of sorts. They’d put her down at her usual time with no problems, had an hour with their elder children before putting them to bed as well, and even had an hour watching television in bed together before the sound of loud wails came through the usually silent baby monitor.

Felicity propped up on one arm as the sound of gentle padded footsteps approached the open doorway, and she almost held up hope of their planned evening activities still on schedule, but the sight of her infant daughter in Oliver’s arms heightened her concern and pushed all other thoughts aside.

“She okay?” Felicity asked, as Oliver brought her over to the side of the bed and leaned down.

“She’s fine. See,” he pointed out, as their daughters chubby hands let go of Oliver’s neck and reached down eagerly for her mother.

She drew her baby into her arms, letting her rest her legs either side of her hips. She liked these moments, when she held her babies in her lap with their heads tucked under her chin and they fit perfectly. It was the closest she felt to the good days of her pregnancies, when she didn’t feel like a useless whale but rather the wonderful vessel of life that Oliver always praised her as, when her babies would kick against her curved stomach and all she felt was warmth, not the desire to rush to the bathroom. “Hello, surprise baby,” she cooed, smoothing back her daughter’s dark blonde curls.

“We need to stop calling her that,” Oliver laughed slightly as he got back to his side of the bed, easing beneath the duvet and into the space beside her. One of Rosie’s hands reached out for him, planting against his chest as he settled without leaning away from her mother’s embrace

“But it’s a surprise that she’s here in our bed,” she noted.

“She had a little nightmare I think,” Oliver decided. “Cuddles were needed.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Felicity murmured, tightening her arms around her little girl as she burrowed further into her, her other hand fisting in her mother’s hair. “Did you want your Momma?”

“Um-mum-mum,” Rosie mumbled quietly, repeating the word she’d been trying to say for some time. It wasn’t the clear ‘momma’ she was waiting for, but it was still obvious who she was calling for. Dada had been mastered a few days ago, but Felicity wasn’t upset about not being first. She was getting enough firsts with her daughter.

She was reminded of them as Rosie lifted her head and nuzzled her face against her cheek. She was getting close to kisses, something they spend their days doing a lot of the time. While Oliver had mastered the stay-at-home-dad role with their first two, it was an unspoken acknowledgement that Rosie was their last, and she wanted to experience the stay-at-home role with her. The company was in a fantastic place, Oliver had eased into her role with her working remotely where needed, and at the moment she was having the best days at home with her daughter and navigating the school run for her elder children.

“Hello, baby girl,” she whispered, giving her the exaggerated ‘mwah’ kiss she was searching for. “Time for sleep?”

Oliver shook his head. “Tried that one.”

She shifted down, so that Rosie was more lying against her and she was mostly horizontal. “Did you check on the-”

“Both fast asleep,” he assured her.

Felicity arched her eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

A smile spread across her face, but she bit her lip to clamp it down.“Want to rethink that?”

“Don’t need to,” he insisted, contenting himself with stroking Rosie’s hand in an attempt to lure her towards sleep.

“Sure?”

“Felicity-”

“Because they’re both peeking around the doorway.”

He closed his eyes just before the eyeroll, dangerous close to the level he’d once directed such gestures at Roy or Barry ten years ago. She’d been sure from her quick glance while getting comfortable, but Oliver lifted himself up regardless, pointing a stern stare at their elder children.

“Ava and Tommy, please go back to bed,” he told them.

Ava pouted, looking far too much like her aunt when she did. “We wanna sleep in your bed too.”

“You have your own beds,” Oliver pointed out to her.

“So does Rosie,” Tommy argued.

“Okay, just this once,” he sighed, pulling back the covers on his side so they wouldn’t disturb their sister.

There were a lot of elbows and lot of knees, but eventually Ava and Tommy settled into the space created between their parents. Felicity hadn’t moved but the other two had piled in and Oliver had found himself right up against the edge of the bed. This worked rather well with two children - they either needed a bigger bed or a new game plan to accommodate for the third.

“Everyone comfy?” Oliver asked, one armed reached behind him towards the lamp on his beside.

“Daddy?”

His eyes met Felicity’s tiny smile across the mass of children’s heads between them. “Turning out the light, Ava,” he told her.

“But Daddy?”

He softened his voice, turning his attention down to his daughter.“Yes, hon?”

“Do you think I’m a hazard to society?” She asked sweetly.

Felicity bit her lip, Oliver frowned. “Who said you’re a hazard to society?”

“My teacher, Mrs Bradbury.”

Felicity reached one arm away from Rosie to stroke over Ava’s hair, directing her attention. “Do you think you can point her out to me on Monday morning?” She asked, deciding that she needed to have a word with that particular teacher.

“But am I?” Ava pressed.

“No, you’re not,” Oliver insisted firmly.

“One day, maybe,” Felicity whispered to him.

He tried his best not to smile. “Okay, I’m turning this light out now. Ava, you good?”

“All good,” she chirped.

“Tommy?”

“Good,” he replied, his voice muffled by the mass of blankets he’d buried himself under.

“Rosie?” Oliver asked, the last child to check.

“Dad-da-da-da,” she babbled.

“Mommy?” He asked, raising his eyes to Felicity.

She took a moment to look at each child in turn. Her eldest daughter in the centre, her usual dark blonde hair softening to a lighter gold in the summer, eyes watching her father with their usual sparkle of wonderment. Her only son, blue eyes hidden behind lids he’d already closed as he snuggled against his father’s arm. Her youngest still-brand-new daughter who nuzzled into the space at the top of her chest.

“All good over here,” she nodded slightly.

“Okay, I’m turning off the light,” Oliver announced.

“Daddy?”

“Go to sleep, Ava,” they told her together.


	98. Burnout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arrowiefan said: Hi dear! I love it so much when you wrote about Ava and Tom Tom aka Tommy. Can you write something about Oliver’s taking care of them but it turns out they take care of their Daddy because Oliver is down with flu and fever. Felicity is away on business trip and they keep calling her asking how to treat their Daddy. When Felicity comes back, she finds Ava and Tom Tom curl with their Daddy.
> 
> Anonymous said: can you write a fic where Oliver is sick and has a headache so Felicity gives him a massage? tysm! I love your writing ^^

The sound was blaring from across the living room. Well, it wasn’t too loud, he supposed, but it was definitely too loud for him to stand. The television was his most hated sound of all. He’d gotten so used to living without it, and when he’d returned from the island he’d only ever used the television for news. Felicity tried to get him involved - tried to tempt him into Netflix marathons and to catch him up on what she insisted were the most important parts of the digital world, but he’d never seen it that way.

Television, for Oliver, was Felicity sprawled around his chest, tapping her fingers absently against his side. It was a few hours downtime before they fell asleep where she whispered facts to keep him in the loop about the plot and told him her favourite parts which he’d file away for future use. Television was the mindless children’s shows that his children adored, that they sang along to and worshipped. They fell in love with these fictional creations the same way that Felicity did, and he couldn’t fault television capturing their attention when they are actually learning from it.

Well, he could try.

“Ava, hon, can you turn that down?” He asked from his spot on the couch. He was casually, propping his head up with his arm as his fingers kneaded against his forehead. Tommy was coloring in the space next to him, and Ava sprawled on her front on the rug watching a documentary about dolphins.

She turned her head, her eyes filled with concern as one hand fell down to the floor. “Do we have to turn it off?”

“No, sweetie,” he assured her. Dolphins were a new obsession for her, ever since she’d spent far too long talking to a charity worker who was at the office trying to get Felicity’s support on a campaign. Now everything was about the preservation of dolphins and Ava had forced them to sign a contract which was pinned to the fridge that stated they would absolutely definitely not ever be going to SeaWorld to see them in tanks when they took their family vacation. “Just turn the volume down a little. Daddy’s got a headache.”

She glanced back at the television, but immediately looked back at him. “Are you sick?”

“Little bit,” he murmured.

He blamed the flu that was going around them all at the moment. Tommy had brought it home from preschool, then Felicity had got it, then Thea, Diggle, Lyla… he could blame any of them, but he was certain it had been lingering since the kids brought it home. Ava had escaped with little more than a cough and a sore throat, but Tommy had suffered badly with it. He’d kept them up for the better part of a week with his chesty cough and high temperatures, and they’d spend half their time on the phone to the pediatrician trying to ascertain whenever they needed to go to the emergency room.

But now Oliver was feeling it too. He’d felt a sharpness in the back of his throat every time he swallowed, each word was starting to sound scratchier, and the headache was only getting worse. He was getting sick, and was no denying it.

“You told Mommy you don’t get sick,” Ava reminded him pointedly, fixing him a look that was clearly inherited from her mother.

He glanced up from where he’d been scrolling through a news feed on his smartphone, arching an eyebrow at her. “Well, Mommy won’t be back from her trip until Friday, so we don’t have to tell Mommy that,” he told her.

“Yes, we do.”

“No, we don’t.”

“But Mommy left me in charge,” she bragged.

He shook his head, glancing back down. “Daddy’s in charge, Ava. I don’t stop being in charge just because Mommy’s not here.”

Felicity had been on a work conference for two days, but he was already missing her. They all were. The kids were never a problem when they were younger, but Ava was starting to feel more left-behind when she had to travel for work now, which resulted in a list of ‘special jobs’ for her to focus on.

“But she told me. She said “Ava, keep Daddy out of trouble, okay?” So that means I’m in charge,” she bragged, and despite the pounding behind his eyes, Oliver couldn’t deny that she was starting to sound more and more like her mother every single day.

“Well, Daddy’s not in trouble,” he assured her.

“But you’re sick,” she pressed.

“I just have a headache,” he told her, before the dolphins on the television captured her attention once again and she went back to her show.

–

“Do you need me to come home?”

“Felicity, I’m fine,” he insisted as he cleared away the dishes. The kids were both up in bed, which was the perfect time to clear things away. Unfortunately Ava was at the age where she wanted to help with everything, which meant that more and more items were ending up broken in their home.

“You don’t sound fine,” she noted, frowning at him.

They were each seeing to their evening habits through their Skype call. Felicity was sat at the hotel vanity table with her tablet propped up beside her, removing her makeup from the day with her hair loose around her face. It was a process he usually loved to watch from the bed, the way she’d take herself apart from the front that she let the world see, and deconstructed down to her core self. Oliver’s tablet was resting against the window ledge while he loaded the dishwasher and wiped down the surfaces, glancing back at her every few seconds.

“I’m just tired,” he assured her, trying to cover the scratching tone in his voice. “Tommy’s been up since four.”

“Four?” She screwed up her face. “He didn’t even do that when he was a baby.”

“Apparently the sun was in his eyes.”

“At four in the morning?”

“A conversation we had over our second breakfast,” he half-laughed, but there was no humor in it.

They wondered, sometimes, whether other kids were as unique as theirs were. Sometimes they’d come up with the strangest ideas, leaving them visibly stunned for hours on end. Ava had far too many ways to end an argument, and an imagination that was only going to get her in trouble, and he was fairly certain that her summer project was going to end up being a presidency campaign that would be far too compelling.

“Sounds like you’re having fun,” she murmured sarcastically.

“We’re _fine_ ,” he assured her, pausing to really watch her for a moment. “We miss you,” he added softly.

“I miss you guys too,” she smiled back at him. “Hopefully this will be the last out-of-town trip for the year.”

That certainly made him perk up. “That’s good news. More us time.”

“Definitely good news,” she agreed, her smile growing to a hopeful, yet firm grin. “You sure you-”

“As much as I’d love to tempt you home, I’m okay,” he assured her once again. “Go be amazing tomorrow, okay?.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow night,” she told him, and he could see her setting her things away, ready for bed.

“Love you, wifey,” he murmured.

“Love you too.”

–

“Daddy?”

“Mmm, go back to sleep.”

It’s early. Far too early. It’s absolutely far too early for Ava to be chirping in his ear. Especially when his head is pounding and he’s certain that he’s going to vomit if he moves.

“Daddy, it’s time for dinner.”

 _What_?

“What? Dinner?”

“Tommy’s hungry.”

Oh God, did he sleep the entire day? No. No, he remembered picking Ava up from school. Then he brought the laundry upstairs and just laid his head down for a moment after when it had started to spin. Tommy had been napping and Ava was doing her reading homework so he had ten minutes, only he’d clearly been asleep far longer than ten minutes.

He forced himself upright. “Okay, I’ll-”

“I made dinner.”

He stumbled back down, his entire upper body resting on his forearm as Ava’s form finally blinked into life. She was kneeling in the center of the bed, her hands patiently folded in her lap as she watched him. “What?”

“You were sleeping,” she explained. “Your head’s all hot.”

He absently pressed a hand to his own forehead, then to the back of his neck. Heat was radiating from his exposed skin. “Daddy might have a fever,” he murmured, turning his attention back to the far more concerning point. “Why did _you_ make dinner, Ava? You know you’re-”

“I’m not allowed to cook because I can burn things and hurt myself,” she recited. “But you don’t need to cook sandwiches, so I made us sandwiches and we can have a bed picnic like Mommy lets us when we get sick,” she told him proudly.

He stopped for a moment, taking in a breath as he understood what she was saying. “Ava…”

“I made you PB&J,” she continued sweetly, turning around slightly and pulling a tray forward. “We can have it ‘cause Mommy’s not here.”

It was then that he noted the glass of juice on the side of the bed that hadn’t been there before. The tray she’d placed on the bad had a single sandwich on it, the bread raggedly cut where she hadn’t been able to bypass the child-lock on the drawers that held the sharper knives. Beside it was an apple, a banana and an orange, that she’d taken from the fruit bowl.

“You made all this by yourself?” He asked her softly.

“Someone’s got to look after you,” she pointed out proudly.

Oliver tapped his finger against the tray, giving her a smile. “This was very grown up of you, Ava,” he praised her.

“I tidied up our toys too, and I picked Tommy’s jammies for him ready for bedtime,” she added, with a pride in her tone that made Oliver’s heart feel just as warm as his forehead. “I couldn’t reach the medicine or make special tea like Mommy does, but I got you some juice,” she said, pointing to the glass on the side board.

He grabbed her hand, squeezing it and placing a firm kiss on her fingers. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

“I also spilled all the cereal but I’ll clean it up-”

“It’s alright, hon,” he assured her. “You’ve done a really good job taking care of things.”

Despite his praise, she wrinkled her nose. “Are you still sick?”

“I think so,” he admitted. “I’ll be okay, though.”

“Promise?” She checked.

“I promise. Nothing beats Daddy.”

“Because I don’t want you to not be okay,” she said, her hands wringing in her lap.

Again, he could see Felicity in her little fidget. It had been everything he wanted for his daughter - for her to be exactly like her mother in every way, but while he was glad she’d inherited her sense of compassion and the ease to care for people, it was always hard to see that intense worry on her face.

Ava worried a lot, and she never tried to hide it. She worried about the animals at SeaWorld, lately. She also worried whether the stray cat they’d found and taken to the vet three weeks ago would be adopted by a nice family. She worried whether there would be more sad people on the news the next morning. She worried she might break her glasses, or that Tommy would fall off the couch if she didn’t sit right next to him.

“Hey, I’m just a little bit sick,” he assured her gently. “I’ll be all better soon.”

She still frowned at him. “Only if you promise.”

“Remember when you had a fever?” He reminded her.

She nodded. “I didn’t go to school.”

“But you got better, didn’t you?” He pointed out.

“Yeah.”

He smiled at her, shifting slowly to kiss her forehead. “And now I have you to look after me, so I know I’m going to be okay.”

–

The next time he woke, there was a far bigger person fussing over him. He could sense her straight away, the lingering scent of her that she wore far better than any perfume, the brush of a ponytail as she turned her head, the touch of hands that accompanied wedding rings. “Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Felicity whispered, stroking her hand over his shoulder.

He didn’t open his eyes, reaching blindly for her hand and linking his fingers with hers. “What are you doing home?” He asked, his voice barely audible through his sore throat.

“Got the red eye,” she told him. “Your nurse called me.”

“Ava?” He mumbled.

“Yeah, I just carried her back to bed,” she said lightly. “She said she was taking care of you but she fell asleep.”

It was then that he heard the clinking of china, and opened his eyes to see her removing the plates from the meal that Ava had made him earlier. He’d eaten the entirety of the sandwich and half of the apple before his stomach had threatened to protest, but from the state of the plates now he could see that Ava had finished off the rest of his meal.

He tried to move. “Let me-”

“Hey, you’ve got a raging fever, mister,” Felicity told him, easily pushing him back down onto the pillows. “You didn’t even hear me waking the kids up and checking your temperature.”

For him not to be alert enough to hear her come home was concern enough. That meant he had slept soundly enough that he hadn’t put the kids to bed, or even bathed them. What if something had happened? “I’m f-”

“Not at all fine,” she cut him off, patting her hand against his chest. “Not even a little bit.”

“I feel like shit,” he agreed with a heavy sigh, closing his eyes again. The room was dark now, at least.

“Thought so. Do you need anything?” She offered.

He shook his head, frowning when it made the pounding worse, but he reached for her again, knotting his fingers with hers. “Just you.”

“Really?” She questioned, and he could even sense the challenging way she tilted her head. “I can’t tempt you with some cold medicine or a cool glass of water?”

“…the water sounds really good,” he murmured after a few moments.

“Figured so,” she replied, before she tapped his chest again. “Your shirt’s soaked through, take that off, I’ll get you a clean one.”

He moved to her every command. His head span when he sat up, but she aided the damp shirt over his head and tossed it expertly into the laundry hamper in the corner of the bedroom. Once he was wearing some far more breathable fabric, he settled back against his pillow with a far more blissful sigh.

“Felicity…”

“Yeah, hon?” She whispered, coasting her cool hand over his flushed skin.

He grasped onto it, holding her palm against his cheek. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” she agreed, planting her lips against his forehead.

“You’re a really good wife,” he sighed. “And a really good mom.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, the best,” he assured her.

He wanted to tell her more. He wanted to tell her that they were raising their daughter right, that she wasn’t always a hurricane force, that she was responsible and clear-headed. She knew what to do in a crisis, if this could be classed a one, but he was so damn _tired_ he couldn’t get the words out.

“Come on, sleepy. I want that fever broken by morning. Think you can do that?” She challenged.

He nodded weakly as she settled to lie beside him. “Easy.”

“Thought so.”


	99. Monsters Under The Bed

“Daddy?” 

The word pulls Oliver out of sleep instantly, as it always has done since the first time she said it. When he fell in love with Felicity, the way she said his name would have him at her side in an instant, but that had been nothing to the way that his body had learned to awaken whenever his daughter made a sound. At first, he’d been unable to sleep through the night alongside her, but now the mutter of either his calling or Felicity’s has him waking before the word’s even finished, blearily rubbing over his face as his eyes open to find her. “Hmm?”

“Daddy,” she prompts again, not questioning this time.

He finds her where she always stands, at his side of the bed with her hands twisting into the fabric of her Blankie nervously. All he needs to know is that his daughter has spoken his name to be propping himself up and switching on the light. “Ava? It’s the middle of the night, hon, what are you doing out of bed?”

The lamplight, while soft, is enough cast illumination on her blotched cheeks. “Had a scary dream,” she mutters, her hands fisting into Blankie as she raises it to cover her mouth.

His hand finds the side of her head, smoothing down her hair until it shifts to cup her cheek. “Are you still scared?” he whispers to her.

“Yeah,” she confirms quietly, her sound muffled by Blankie covering her mouth.

Oliver shifts back a few inches, creating a space in the bed next to him. “Come on, come get in bed with Daddy,” he tells her.

She needs no further encouragement as she scrambles into the space as he shuts off the light. The moment the darkness covers them again she burrows close into his waiting arms, curling into a ball on her side between his torso and his arm when he shelters her with the other. The pigtails he put her to bed in several hours ago are loosened, one hanging significantly lower than the other, but he makes move to correct it. She’s like Felicity when she wakes; disheveled, beautiful, and so pure as a second nature.

“What was your dream about?” he asks her, his voice a whisper because they don’t need to speak any louder when it’s just the two of them.

“Monsters,” she tells him in a tiny voice, tucking her head beneath his chin in a way that draws a gentle brush of his lips over the parting of her hair. Blankie becomes a shield for her, because she wants to hold on to him but won’t release the woollen bundle to do so.

“There’s no such thing as monsters,” he assures her.

“But you told Mommy that the bad man on the news was a monster,” she tells him bluntly. “I heard you.”

He sighs as he recalls his earlier conversation with Felicity. She’s been in Gotham on business for the last three days, and her last phone call after dinner had been filled with concern on a news report that had reached a national level about kidnappings. Namely, that for as much as she wanted the guy off the streets, she did not want him leaving their daughter with a babysitter while he went out there to take care of that.

He’d agreed with her, of course. In a world where little girls were going missing, there’s no way he is letting his little girl out of his sight. He’ll wait until Felicity’s back tomorrow, and if the police haven’t made any progress, then he’ll go out on the streets and do what he can to assist. But for now, his daughter is the priority, as she always will be.

“I didn’t mean that, sweetheart,” he tells her.

“Were you lying?” she asks, her hand drawing patterns against his bare chest with her fingers. She traces his scars usually, but sometimes, when the lights are off and she’s not settled enough to sleep she makes out the shapes of stars in his skin. It’s part of Felicity teaching her that beautiful things can exist in darkness, that even on the darkest nights there are stars in the sky, and while they haven’t talked about it, he’s certain it’s preparation for the day that Ava asks where he scars came from and he tells her the truth about what he went through in his time away.

“No, not lying,” he assures her, matching her patterns with mirrored ones against her back. “Daddy was wrong.”

“Oh,” she whispers.

“I said that because it was what he reminded me of, because that man does very bad things to very nice people, so he reminds me of monsters” he explains.

He feels her frown in the crinkle of her eyebrows. “And if he did something nice, he’d remind you of something nice?” she finishes for him, her mind still wrapping around the concept that Daddy was wrong sometimes.

“That’s right.”

“Like a unicorn,” she adds, her voice brightening a little.

“Exactly,” he agrees. “But just because he reminds me of monsters doesn’t meant that monsters are real,” he assures her again, because now that they’ve gone as far as to put some pre-bedtime lavender scent in an unmarked spray bottle they claim is anti-monster-spray, they can never be too sure that Ava believes them.

“So there’s no monsters under your bed?” she asks warily.

“There are absolutely no monsters under my bed,” he promises her, rubbing his hand firmly over her pajama shirt to try and lull her back to sleep.

“Promise?” she whispers.

“I promise.”

“But what if you can’t see them?” she asks, turning her head up to his in the darkness. “What if they turn invisible or they’re hiding?”

“Nothing can turn invisible,” he reminds her, hoping that’s not a lie because it’s been a while since he’s checked in with the Central City team to see what kind of metahumans they’ve encountered lately. “And they’re not hiding because most things you can see, and you’d definitely be able to see a monster if it were real.”

Luckily, Ava drops the idea of monsters being real and screws her eyes up. “Why can’t you see some things?” she asks.

“Some things you can’t see, not with your eyes,” Oliver explains, poking his finger in the space at the top of her nose.

She wrinkles her nose at his action. “But I’ve only got my eyes to see with.”

This time, he pokes his finger to the centre of her chest. “Some things are so special you can only see them with your heart.”

“I don’t get it,” she blinks. “Has your heart got eyes?”

“No, it just sees things in it’s own special way. Like Mommy,” he tells her, knowing he can convince her with this. “You love Mommy, don’t you?”

She nods eagerly, threatening her loose pigtails even more with the movement. Oliver knows that his daughter loves him, and that this love is unconditional and unmatched, but the way she loves Felicity is monumental. It’s not any more or any less than she loves him, but it’s in another league. She grew within Felicity. She has an advantage with her love for Felicity that Oliver can never obtain - she knows what her heart feels like from the inside. Oliver knows that his wife and his daughter are the great loves of his life, and that nothing will ever change it, but sometimes he is envious that they share this bond he can never even dream to possess. “Lots and lots.”

“That’s something that everyone can see with their eyes, but when you see it, you see it with your heart,” he explains.

“Why?”

“Because love is a very special thing,” he tells her. “People can see when you love someone, and they can see how much you love them, but when you know that you love a person no one else can see it like you can.”

She watches him for a moment, and even in the darkness of the room her eyes are piercing, searching for answers she thinks he’s withholding for her. She eventually cocks her head to the side, screwing up her face as she huffs and lays back down against him. “I still don’t get it,” she declares.

“You will one day, when you’re older.”

“I am older, I’m nearly six,” she tells him defiantly.

He hates it when she reminds him that she’s growing up, even though the pride bursts within him. Because she is growing every day. It still amazes him that they’re planning her sixth birthday when it feels like yesterday that they were unwrapping gifts from the baby shower. The furious curls she had when she was a toddler have grown into looser waves that are far more similar to her mother’s, and he’s starting to see less of his baby and more of the woman she’ll be someday.

“A bigger girl, then,” he tells her.

She yawns widely, rubbing her hair against his shoulder. “I think you’re silly sometimes, Daddy.”

“I think so, too,” he agrees lightly. “Now, come on, you should go back to sleep.”

“Are you sure there’s no monsters?” she asks one final time.

“Ava, I promise you there are no monsters,” he tells her, planting a dramatically loud kiss to the top of her head. “Daddy wouldn’t ever let any monsters get you.”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want any monsters to get you or Mommy too,” she tells him.

He wonders what she will think when she knows what he still does at night when she’s gone to bed. He wonders what she will think about the monsters he goes up against, and the ones that gave him his scars. He wonders whether she’ll still see him as a hero.

For now, he doesn’t need to concern himself with that. For now, all he needs to concern himself with are monsters under the bed, ones he can banish with ‘Daddy checked, nothing there’.

“Don’t worry, Daddy will protect you both.”


	100. The House That Built Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from @adafriedman18: “What if Oliver and Felicity took Ava, Tommy and Rosie back to Ivy Town to show them the house that they lived in before they moved back to Star City?

Oliver stood at the porch doors as he’d once down countless times. There had been nights he’d stood here and watched the starlight that hadn’t been visible under the light pollution of a vast city and think of his future. It hadn’t been something he’d ever allowed himself to consider before setting off on his journey with Felicity, but it had swiftly become something he rewarded himself with every day.

He loved the house. He loved the small town. He hadn’t imagined that he’d end up in a four-bed detached house with a medium sized back yard.

He’d stand at the patio doors and look out over his back yard, out at the lounge chairs he and Felicity would laze in during the evening and watch the sun go down, and the barbecue he’d won over most of the neighbourhood with, and the flowers they’d planted together with no knowledge of gardening whatsoever.

And now, years later, he stood in that same doorway and watched his children running around.

“Can you imagine if we’d have raised them here?”

He turned his head when Felicity looped her arms around his waist from his side. Ava was happily leading her younger siblings around the lower branches of the tree at the bottom of the yard, the one that had grown at least ten feet since they’d last been to the house, which gave them a moment alone in the house they’d never let go of. There had been tenants in and out through the years, but never a permanent family.

“Can’t stop thinking about it,” he admitted as his arm wound around her back, cementing her against him. “They like it here.”

“I think this was a good choice for our vacation home,” she agreed.

“Are you sure?” he checked for what felt like the fiftieth time. “Because-”

“I know, I know…” she sighed. “Bali is wonderful, but it’s wonderful for you and me,” she pointed out. “Tommy burns too easily in the sun, and I’m not entirely convinced that Ava wouldn’t unintentionally sell Rosie somehow. But this…this is home.”

“Then I guess we have some renovations to do,” he smiled down at her. “Because if we don’t get some of those tree branches cut down we’re going to spend the entire summer in the emergency room.”

“Hmm, good luck with that,” she humored him, propping her chin against his shoulder. “Tommy’s got his heart set on a tree house.”

“I will need a project,” he muttered thoughtfully.

Their conversation was interrupted when their smallest whirlwind launched herself at Oliver with a running leap, and he caught their five-year-old and shifted her up on to his hip. “Daddy’s getting too old for this, Rosie-bug.”

“What room is mine?” she chirped instantly. “Ava says she gets the big room at the front because she’s the oldest.”

“Well, that’s mine and Mommy’s room,” Oliver told her.

“Because you’re the oldest?” she asked.

“Because that’s always been our room,” he told her while Felicity sniggered lightly. “Anyway, I thought you’d want the back bedroom with the round window on it. I was going to make it look like a princess castle on the inside.”

Her face lit up. “Like Rapunzel?” she asked in delight.

“Yeah, your Mom had some good ideas, so you two can plan it and I’ll build it for you,” he told her, planting a kiss on her cheek. “Go get your brother and sister in, pizza will be here soon.”

“Are we staying here tonight?” she asked him as he set her down.

“No, we’re going back to the motel tonight,” Felicity told her, brushing a hand over her hair. “We need to get you beds here first, so we’ll come back and stay here in the summer.”

Satisfied with her answer, Rosie disappeared without another question, calling out for her siblings. Oliver’s arms found his wife once again, dropping a kiss to her as he momentarily held her against the door. “Oh, the memories of this house…” he recalled with a suggestive smile.

“I can’t wait to relive them,” she teased with a small nip of his lower lip.

He barely held back his groan as his hands grasped tighter against her waist, but they were torn apart by the stampede of children summoned by the doorbell. Oliver broke away with alarm, pulling his hand away.

“What is it?” Felicity asked.

He rolled his eyes, marching after the children. “Ava, give me back my wallet!”


	101. It's Only Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @waiting-for-meaning said: You’ve mentioned previously that Tommy is dyslexic. Does he ever get jealous/frustrated that his parents and older sister are seemingly so smart, so easily, but not him? Any way we could get a fic with him struggling to accept his place in the the family because of this? Pretty please???

“Hey sweetheart.”

Felicity sinks onto the edge of her son’s mattress, but her six year old isn’t looking at her. He’s facing towards the wall, eyes closed with a furious scowl on his face that he’s definitely inherited from his father. With that expression, he looks so much like Oliver that it’s as though they cloned him in a lab rather than created him together.

He doesn’t answer her though, doesn’t even turn his head to acknowledge her presence, so she strokes her hand up the length of his spine which he’s loved since he was a newborn, and settles her palm around his shoulder, her thumb tracing circles there. “Tommy, look at me,” she urges him. Can we have a talk?”

“Don’t wanna,” he huffs out, but she knows her son well and she can hear the held-back tears in his voice.

“Tommy, your Dad said you didn’t want a story tonight,” she says.

“No,” he says grumpily.

“Why not?” she asks.

Again, he falls silent, but that angry scowl goes nowhere. They’re all confused about it, Oliver especially. It’s a nightly ritual for them, stories before bedtime, and it’s something that he loves being able to do for them, so for Tommy to send him away with a mood that’s far too unlike him, they’ve already tried to figure out what’s bothering their little boy.

“Tommy, baby, talk to me,” she pleads lightly.

“I can’t _do_ it,” he half-wines, as if the battle for tears is one he’s about to lose.

“Do what?”

She hears him swallow before he croaks out the word. “Read.”

Oh, it breaks her heart when he turns to lie on his back at last and face her. There are dried tears on his cheeks, salty paths of sadness that reveal they’ve been sat downstairs talking about it and he’s been up here crying into his pillow on his own. “Tommy…” she whispers, her thumbs wiping away those tear tracks and smoothing back his hair.

“Mrs. Simmons said I’m lazy,” he tells her quietly.

“You’re not lazy, hon,” she assures him.

“But I can’t do it,” he sniffs, and that cracks her heart right down the middle. As a toddler, Tommy would never spontaneously cry like his sister would have done, he’d always sniff once, twice, three times, and then erupt into his wails. They’re on the borderline now, and she’s not entire sure it’s something that can be fixed before bedtime.

“That doesn’t mean you’re lazy,” she assures him. “You’re just…”

“Different,” he finishes for her.

“…having a little trouble right now,” she corrects him. “But that’s okay.”

“ _No_ , it’s not,” he complains.

“Well, I love that your different,” she tells him with a smile. “It means that no one in the whole wide world has a little boy like mine.”

But his bright blue eyes don’t light up at that idea, instead they take a downward path to a sorrow that she’s not seen in his eyes before. “But I’m not good at reading,” he whispers shamefully.

The dyslexia is a new addition to their lives; or at least the diagnosis is. They’ve been told that it’s been caught early enough that they can give him a lot of help in school, and they’ve been given ways that they can help him outside of school as well, but this is a little boy with his father’s genetics, and right now all he sees is the immediate ‘no’ that he’s been told, and he isn’t sure how to push past that yet.

“Not yet, but remember what the nice learning advisor told us?” she prompted positively. He nods, sniffing for the second time, but doesn’t answer her. “What did she say?”

“That one day I can do it,” he recalls.

“Exactly,” she smiles again, leaning both her arms over his so that she can place a kiss to his forehead. “Sometimes things take us a little longer, but that doesn’t mean that it’ll never happen.”

“But Ava can read,” he grumbled.

“Ava’s older than you,” she points out to him. “Besides, you’re good at a lot of things that Ava can’t do.”

“Like what?”

She pretends to think hard, then pokes her finger to the end of his nose.“Why don’t _you_ tell me what you’re good at?” she suggests. “Something no one else in our family can do.”

He goes quiet for a long time, but she can see this time that he’s thinking, not brooding. When he eventually thinks of something to suggest, his voice is quieter but not quite as saddened. “I can draw really good.”

“You can,” she agreed brightly. “ _Especially_ elephants. You draw amazing elephants. That’s one thing,” she counted it off on her hand. “How about another?”

This time it doesn’t take nearly as long for him to speak, which Felicity’s happy with. She’d much rather her son’s head be filled with things that he can do well rather than dwelling on something that he struggles with. “I can run really fast.”

“That’s right, you’re the fastest runner in your class,” she reminds him, a feat that’s documented in a certificate he brought home two weeks ago from school that’s now pride of place on the fridge.

“Yeah.”

She drops from her hands above him to her elbows, so that they’re close enough now that he immediately leans up to kiss her nose and she rubs hers against his after. “Tommy, just because some things are harder to learn for us, it never means that we’re slow or stupid,” she tells him firmly. “ _Never_. You’re a very clever boy, and you’re good at so many things. I don’t want you to _ever_ think that you’re stupid.”

“But I don’t want to be bad at school,” he mumbled.

“Want to know a secret?” she whispers. “It’s only school.”

He frowns, blinking up at her. “But you said school is the most important thing.”

“And it is. But you don’t have to be top of your class to be smart, Tommy,” she carries on. “You definitely don’t have to be top of your class for me and your father to be proud of you. The most important part of school isn’t what grades you get. When you’re the same age as Daddy and I, these quizzes and spelling bees won’t mean a damn thing. What’s most important is that you find something you’re interested in, something you’re passionate about, and that you find a way to do that for the rest of your life.”

Tommy looks thoughtful, taking in her words with a maturity that definitely outreaches his age - because this is not just any six year old, this is her six year old. “So I don’t have to do good?”

“All you have to do is try your best,” she assures him. “As long as you walk away from everything knowing that you tried your very best, that’s all that matters to me.”

“But then why do we have to learn everything at school?” he mumbles.

“To give you opportunities. Like Ava, she wants to work with animals,” she explains to him. “To do that, she has to learn about their bodies, and how they live and work, so she has to work very hard at her sciences. I wanted to work with computers, so I had to study hard with technology and engineering, and when your Dad wanted to do more with his work he went back to college to study business.”

“Oh,” he whispers, nodding like he understands that the best he can.

“What do you like doing most?” she prompts him.

“I dunno,” he shrugs.

“Yeah, you do.”

“I like my games,” he tells her.

Felicity breaks out in a smile above him. “You know, someone has to make those video games.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s really, really hard,” she warns him. “You have to design all the worlds and the characters, and make up the story, and work on the music. Artwork is a big part of it, _you’d_ be great at something like that,” she tells him, and this time his face lights up hopefully.

“Really?”

She nods, leaning down and nuzzling her nose against his. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to be good at spelling when you’re six years old to grow into someone amazing. You’re going to do wonderful things, and your Dad and I are going to be there every step of the way,” she tells him proudly.

“Okay,” he nods quietly.

“So do you think I can send Daddy up for storytime now?” she asks him, sitting up a little. “He doesn’t sleep well without a story.”

The idea doesn’t seem to thrill him though, and he looks nervous at the prospect. “Even though I can’t read along?”

She nods. “Storytime isn’t just about reading, Tommy. It’s about you getting a special time every single day with just your Dad,” she explains, tempting him even further. “Don’t you want to know what happens in the third Harry Potter book?”

“Yeah,” he admits quietly.

“So, can I send Dad up?”

This time he nods. “Okay.”

With a more settled child, Felicity can sleep a little easier, but she knows that they’ve got a long way to go yet until Tommy sees his dyslexia as anything less than a hindrance. She’s done a lot of things in her life that were difficult, but explaining to her son that fixing his reading problems weren’t as simple as getting glasses was one of the hardest. But when she leans over him once again, giving him a proper goodnight kiss, she can’t help but be grateful for the fighting spirit she knows will come out in her son, the one he will have gotten from them.

“Love you, buddy,” she whispers into his hair when he wraps his tiny arms around her neck.

“Love you too, Momma.”


	102. Holding on to You

“ _Look_!”

“Is she-?”

“She’s doing it on her own, Oliver!”

“Oh my god.”

“Ava, you clever, _clever_ girl…”

“Let me get the camera.”

“Quick, she might not balance that long.”

“Got it, you’re closer, you want to-?”

“Can’t. She’s got me.”

“Hold it. I need as many photos as we can of this moment.”

“Oliver…”

“The two of you right now…”

“You’re being a fluffy goofball again.”

“This isn’t about me. This is about our little girl, sitting up for the first time.”

“Because she’s growing so big and strong, yes, you are.”

“Smile for Daddy, Ava? That’s it! Good girl, you beautiful, beautiful girl.”

“I think I want to cry.”

“Are you-?”

“This is her first milestone. Her first real one.”

“First of many.”

“She’s not just a baby now. She’s an actual little person.”

“She always was, hon.”

“What happened to her not ever growing up?”

“Completely different.”

“Ooops, and she’s down again.”

“Want me to put her down for a nap?”

“Nah, she’s happy here. She likes this rug, let’s let her play for a while.”

“Here, look at the pictures.”

“You’re not a bad photographer, you know.”

“I have a good subject. This one’s my favourite.”

“Just our hands.”

“My girls, holding on to each other.”

“Oliver?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m so glad we did this.”

“Me too.”

“I know we were both worried about having a family, but this…I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

“She’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”

“Did you ever think we’d end up here?”

“Never in million years. I never thought I’d deserve this.”

“Oliver…”

“But I dreamed about it.”

“About a little girl?”

“I don’t think I’ve recovered from the names you called me during her birth to tell you how many kids I imagined us having.”

“Wuss.”

“You’re mean in childbirth.”

“Did you hear that, Ava? He said Mommy’s mean.”

“Don’t change her allegiance. You’re jealous of our midnight cuddles.”

“I am not at all jealous of having an extra hour’s sleep at night just so you can trade it in to go for a ten mile run every night.”

“We’ve got this family thing running pretty well, haven’t we?”

“I think it helps that we’ve got such a good baby.”

“I’m not so sure. I think she’s going to be a real troublemaker when she’s older…”


	103. Loving Mommy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> frenchswissborder said: Fix-it prompt: Ava finding out about her parents’ first wedding and asking for that story (because she already knows the story of their second wedding).

“But I don’t _understand_.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“If Mommy loved you, why wasn’t the wedding real?”

“Well, that’s complicated, hon.”

“Mommy said you have to stop using that word for everything that you don’t want to talk about.”

“When did Mommy says that?”

“She says it to you all the time.”

“When we’re having private grown up conversations.”

“Yes, but I’m a very good spy.”

“Well, we’re going to talk about that tomorrow.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Why wasn’t it real?”

“Well, you need a lot of paperwork and we didn’t have it all.”

“That doesn’t sound like something Mommy would forget.”

“Daddy organised it.”

“Oh. That sounds right then.”

“ _Ava_.”

“Did Mommy have another dress?”

“She did.”

“What did it look like?”

“It was white, it sparkled too.”

“I want to see it.”

“She borrowed it, we don’t have it anymore.”

“Oh. Didn’t she like it?”

“It was a complicated day, hon.”

“I don’t think I like that word.”

“Mommy doesn’t either.”

“I thought you could marry whoever you wanted to if you loved them enough.”

“Sometimes love isn’t enough.”

“But _you said_ love is the most important thing.”

“It is, but there are a lot of other things to think about. Some times other parts of life get in the way.”

“Well, that’s stupid.”

“Well, it’s like this. Remember when Mommy and I were supposed to have our anniversary dinner last month, but you were really sick so we didn’t go to the restaurant?”

“Yeah.”

“See, other parts of life become more important. That doesn’t mean we didn’t love each other or that we didn’t want to celebrate our love. Sometimes you can’t always do things that are conventional or ‘normal’ to show them.”

“So you show Mommy in other ways?”

“Yeah”

“How?”

“Well, if we have a lot of time, maybe I’ll take her out to dinner, or we’ll go see a movie. If she’s had a bad day then I’ll run her a bath with all the candles she likes.”

“The smelly purple ones?”

“Yeah, you like those, don’t you?”

“They smell like Mommy’s hair.”

“I think so too.”

“What would you do if she had a happy day?”

“Then I’d give her a big kiss when she comes home from work, tell her how proud I am of her, and give her a big glass of wine.”

“Do I show her that I love her in different ways too?”

“You’re different, you’re special.”

“How?”

“Well, we made you because we loved each other very much. Everything you do reminds her of that. You grew right next to her heart.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“I don’t think anyone would remember that.”

“If marrying Mommy once didn’t work, why did you do it again?”

“Because I loved her very much, and I knew that I wanted to be her husband.”

“And have me.”

“And have you.”

“So you would marry Mommy again?”

“I’d marry your Mom every single day, if I could.”

“Auntie Thea says you’re a sap.”

“Did she now?”

“Yeah. She said Mommy made your heart all mushy.”

“She did. And you made it all glittery.”

“A heart can’t be _glittery_ , Daddy.”

“Mine is. Do you remember when we were making Mom’s birthday card and you put that glitter all over my face?”

“Yeah, it was pink.”

“Well, I swallowed it all and it made my insides all glittery.”

“Do you poop glitter now?”

“Yeah, does that mean I’m turning into a unicorn?”

“Maybe.”

“Do you think you’re ready to go to sleep now?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Hmm, I don’t think I like that word.”

“Fine, I’ll go to sleep.”

“Good, you have school in the morning. Sleep tight, I love you.”

“Love you, Daddy.”

–

“She finally asleep?”

“At last. She wanted to talk about everything tonight.”

“Ouch. Pondering the universe again?”

“Love and marriage. She’s far too intelligent.”

“A brain from me and her brooding from you. It’s a dangerous combination.”

“I can’t work out of she’s going to rule the world or destroy it.”

“Knowing Ava, probably both.”

“Now, finally I can focus on my other girl.”

“Good, I missed you today.”

“I can tell.”


	104. Unsteady Feet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said: Could you pretty pretty please do a fic of Felicity and Oliver trying to teach their son how to walk?

“He should be walking.”

“He’ll walk when he’s ready.”

It was a regular argument in the Queen household, born of frustration and impatience as they waited for their baby son to walk. Felicity was particularly impatient for their baby to start toddling, but Oliver was more patient. When he called her out on him, that she replaced ‘impatient’ with eager, with anxious, and later, with worried.

“Well, he’s sixteen months old, Oliver,” she argued, from her spot on the floor in front of him.

“Felicity, we can’t rush him,” he reasoned.

Felicity sighed, ceasing her encouragement of lifting Tommy so his feet supporting his weight with her holding onto his hands. She’d been doing it for weeks in the hope that he’d enjoy being in charge of his own movement, but instead, he remained content in being within three inches of his mother and seemed intent to remain that way.

“Ava was walking by her first birthday,” she pointed out.

Oliver perched on the edge of the couch across from her. “Sixteen months isn’t necessarily late, Felicity.”

“But he isn’t even trying,” she huffed in frustration.

“He’s standing,” Oliver pointed out, gesturing to where Tommy was on his feet between her legs, with one hand planted against her shoulder as he grinned towards his father. “He’s just getting used to his feet.”

But Felicity would not be defeated. “I’m going to teach him to walk.”

“He’ll walk when he’s ready,” he repeated.

She raised a challenging eyebrow in his direction. “Did you read that on the parenting blogs?”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask me that.”

“That’s a yes then,” she snorted.

“Felicity, he’ll walk when he’s ready,” Oliver insisted for the umpteenth time.

“We’ll see,” she muttered, turning her determined expression to their son.

—

Three days later, they both tried not to be too upset when Tommy chose to take his first steps for his sister instead of them, all because she was holding his favorite toy.


	105. Dental Hygiene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We haven't seen any of Ava for a while, so I figured we'd take a look in at the Queen family trip to the dentist...

Ava knows from the moment she gets in the car that her mother is up to something. Mom always has a look on her face when she’s doing something wrong - Daddy always knows exactly what that look means and she makes her eyes go all wide and squeaks ‘nothing’ and whenever Mom’s voice get’s real high she’s always up to something. So when she gets into the car all ready for school and they drive past the school, Ava asks where they’re going and all Mom does is squeak ‘nowhere’ and since that’s not a real place and they’re definitely going somewhere, she knows that Mom’s up to do something. **  
**

Once they pass Big Belly Burger, she knows that she’s going to the dentist.

The last time she was here, she got into trouble and even Daddy told her that it was wrong and that she’s not allowed to bite people because biting is wrong. She doesn’t like it when Mom and Daddy are mad, and she tries to be good, but she really, really, definitely does not like the dentist.

So Mom marches her in there with her hand on her back, because they both know that if she doesn’t hold onto her somehow then she’s going to run away like she did the time before last, and they were even madder about her running away than they had been about the biting so she doesn’t want to have to do that, but she will if she has to.

They go up to the counter where there’s a tub of lollipops sat on the edge and Mom starts talking to the girls at their computers who only ever sit and talk about their boyfriends and do twirly things with their hair like Ava does when she’s bored. She looks at the lollipops but she doesn’t want one, she knows better. She knows that they look yummy but they taste boring and Daddy said it’s because there’s no sugar in them, which is stupid because sugar? It tastes really nice.

“Take a seat, the dentist will be with you in just a few minutes,” one of the girls tells them with a smile - a really nice smile, she bets that you have to have one of them especially to work in a dentist’s office or they don’t let you work there. It can’t be good for them to work with a dentist and have bad teeth.

But they’ve been here a few times now and she’s been to a lot of other places where they say ‘a few minutes’, and Ava knows that ‘few’ is supposed to mean a small number but it never seems that way. Mom’s meetings are always longer than a few minutes, and when they go out to dinner and the food is a few minutes away she gets so bored she runs out of coloring to do. So she knows that she’s got a lot of time to plan her escape.

There are toys in the corner of the waiting room for kids to play with but Ava doesn’t go to them. Those toys are too little for her, but Tommy likes them when he comes. Tommy didn’t have to come because he’s not in trouble for being bad with his teeth, but Ava ate a toffee at school that Bradley Miller gave her and her tooth at the back was hurting a lot after so she has to go to the dentist.

Mom and Daddy must not have wanted her to go because when they decided she needed to go they both tried to get out of taking her. Maybe if they don’t like the dentist so bad then she shouldn’t have to go. But they didn’t listen to that suggestion which is stupid because Mom keeps saying they should talk things through as a family because it’s important but it’s apparently not important when she wants to talk about how much she hates the dentist, or how the mailman hates her, or how Auntie Lyla is absolutely a secret agent.

When they call Ava’s name, she waits for Mom to tug on her arm before she eventually stands up, but as soon as the sound of the drill comes through from the next room she’s holding Mom’s hand a little tighter and standing behind her. She hates this part. She hates the dentist. He always smiles at her funny and talks to her when he’s got his fingers in her mouth and how is she supposed to talk with fingers in her mouth when she’s told that it’s rude to speak with food in her mouth?

She has to sit in the big chair even though she’s little, and she hates it. It’s not comfy like the big chair in Mom’s work or their big armchair at home that Dad used to cuddle her in when she was a baby, and it squeaks when she sits down and moves around. Mom doesn’t stay as close as she wants her to (which is close enough to knock the doctor out because Daddy told her that Mom’s definitely strong enough to do that and a lot of people should be scared of her, definitely the dentist) and has to sit in a chair by her feet. She doesn’t know how that’s going to stop her mouth hurting.

But Mom told her in the car outside that if she was good for her appointment then she’d get a treat after school and even though Ava wants the treat to be a whole day off school (Mom said no) she really wants to see what the treat will be. So she’s good. She sits still and she doesn’t make any noise and she opens her mouth when she’s told to and she doesn’t bite the dentist.

Until she does.

Hard.

And he screams.

\--

“Do I still get my treat?” she asks in the car on her way to school.

“Ava, we have to find another dentist for you now, so I’m not sure.” Mom sounds pretty mad, but she doesn’t look it, which means she’s really mad and she’s pretty sure that Mom and Daddy are going to be having a Long Talk tonight.

She’s very sure that it’ll be about her.

“Why do we have to find a new one?” she asks.

“Because you’ve bitten every dentist at that practice and none of them will see you anymore.”

“Good.”

That’s the wrong answer, apparently, because Mom goes into a long, long, talk about _cavities_ , and then she’s not really sure what a _root canal_ is but she knows she definitely doesn’t want one because Mom says it’s worse than having a baby, and they’ve all heard stories about how big baby Tommy’s head was, she’s just not sure how it got through her belly without leaving a big hole in it.

Maybe she should have stayed at the dentist and asked the nurse because the nurse in the emergency room knew everything about the human body and what would happen if the crayon stayed in Tommy’s ear that time he fell over on her art set.

Or maybe she should just ask….

“Where did Tommy’s head come out when he was born?”

Mom goes quiet for a long time when she asks. Maybe it wasn’t as big as she tells them and really she just forgot.

“How about you wait until dinner to ask Daddy that question, and I’ll let you have ice cream after all?”

She figures that’s a pretty good deal. Daddy _loves_ when she asks questions.


End file.
